to - Public and Commercial Services Union

March | 2010
OR&CLE
For PCS members in the Revenue and Customs Group
Workforce change
cuts and closures
pgs 6–11
News and views p4–5 • Pacesetter p13 • International Women’s Day p13
OR&CLE Contents
ORACLE is issued ten times
per year to over 80,000
members
Editorial
2
President and Group Secretary
3
Editorial Board
Nigel Buller (chair)
Colin Edwards
(website manager)
Lorna Merry (editor)
Ian Mellor (journalist)
Darrell Binding
John Davidson
Mike Lightfoot
Dawn Poole
Fay Westbrook
News and views
4–5
Workforce change – Cuts and closures
6–11
Retired members
12
Pacesetter
13
International Women’s Day
13
ORACLE
is the magazine
of the PCS Revenue
& Customs Group
February 2010 Issue
160 Falcon Road
London SW11 2LN
Tel: 020 7801 2884
R&C Group website:
www.pcs.org.uk/
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Crossword
14
Letters
15
Joint Commissioning
Editors
Colin Edwards
[email protected]
Lorna Merry
[email protected].
gov.uk
[email protected]
Journalist
Ian Mellor
ian.mellor1@ntlworld.
com
Design
PCS Communications
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available in alternative
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requirements, please
contact the editors at
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TT-COC-002452
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Page 2
Editorial
As this edition of
Oracle is published,
the AGM season is
in full swing, with
members meeting
around the country
to debate policy
ideas ready to submit
motions to PCS’s
annual conferences. At national and group
Lorna Merry
level campaigns are
reaching critical
stages, with the ballot result due over proposed
changes to the compensation scheme and a
lobby of parliament as a part of the HMRC Group
Hands Off Our Tax office (HOOT) campaign on the
10 March, followed by a tax justice lobby on the
same day.
As the debate on the size and timing of further
public spending cuts rages on in the run up to
the election, the importance of these campaigns
becomes ever clearer. The actions of the current
government over changes to the compensation
scheme have revealed that they are now playing to
the media gallery, wanting to be seen to slash the
terms and conditions of ‘privileged’ civil servants. If
we fail to show our resolve and stand together to
defend this scheme, it is likely that other attacks
will follow.
The lobby in March will also see the launch
of a report commissioned by PCS to show our
alternative to cuts, based around a business case
that investment in HMRC jobs pays for itself in terms
of improved tax ‘take’. A recent Treasury Select
Committee called HMRC the ‘engine room’ of public
spending, bringing in the money that pays for the
services provided by government. The same report
recognised that £28 billion, around 6.5% of the
tax and duties due in 08/09, remained uncollected
and up to £11 billion of that will probably not be
collected. In addition, it recommended that 17
million open cases must be cleared swiftly once IT
systems are fully operational. As PCS members in HMRC know, open cases aren’t
dealt with and debt isn’t always chased up for a
simple reason.The resource isn’t there to do it. Yet,
as the work mounts up and falling yields deepen
the ‘hole’ in public finances, HMRC have made
1700 experienced staff surplus and businesses like
Customer Contact, unable to answer 44 million calls
in 08/09, are planning cuts of up to 30%. Against this
background, is it any wonder that the staff survey
results are so bad?
This is a vital time for PCS members. We must stand
together to defend our jobs, terms and conditions.
STOP PRESS
As this magazine goes to press, we await the outcome of the ballot
on action over the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. By the time
you receive this we will know the outcome of the ballot. You are urged
to support the outcome of this democratic process, and support the
action that PCS subsequently calls to oppose the attacks on the CSCS.
OR&CLE March 2010
TT-COC-002452
President’s column
Dave Bean
Over the last few weeks I have been addressing a
number of branch meetings most notably AGMs.
I always enjoy that part of my role as group
president as it gives me an opportunity to speak
to members and gauge their views on current
events. I also feel it is necessary in retaining my
own accountability to those who have elected me
to that post. There is an obvious lack of morale and
an ever decreasing feeling of worth in working for
HMRC and it is very noticeable that membership
anger is firmly directed at those who run the
department and are therefore the cause of the
problems they face. At the same time support for
PCS, their union, still runs extremely high.
The results of the people survey are a damning
indictment of just how poor HMRC has become in
delivering such an inadequate service to the taxpaying
public. I like thousands of members am ashamed at
the depth to which standards in the department have
been allowed to decline and yet to hear some of those
at the helm in Excom you would think that anything
that goes wrong is just a minor and temporary blip.
The fiasco of the issue of incorrect coding notices is
evidence to that effect.
Yet there is still a drive to close offices and shed
jobs as witnessed by the announcements in January.
The loss of an extremely skilled workforce makes no
sense at all when the department is in complete
meltdown. Your group executive committee (GEC) is
committed to protecting all members and especially
those in surplus positions. I can repeat the PCS pledge
that if any member is put in a position of compulsory
redundancy or forced to move beyond reasonable
daily travel the GEC will be immediately convened to
consider industrial action. This threat will not only be
considered for HMRC members but throughout the
whole of the civil service.
The response of members to the attacks on the civil
service compensation scheme (CSCS) proposals proves
that we are not prepared to have our jobs lost on
the cheap. The best way of cutting the amount spent
annually on severance payments is to have none at all.
I am heartened that some politicians have listened to
PCS hence the number of them that signed up to the
early day motion condemning the CSCS moves.
Now we must press home our case in the political
arena. On 10 March PCS representatives are lobbying
MPs in protest against the job losses and office
closures followed by a rally to highlight to politicians
our tax justice campaign. In the run up to the general
election it is crucial that the loss of over £100 billion
each year in tax avoided, evaded or simply not
collected, and which makes no economic sense as we
come out of recession, is high on the political agenda.
I look forward to meeting hundreds of PCS
representatives on 10 March when we can stand
together in showing our solidarity in opposing HMRC’s
job loss and office closure programme.
Group Secretary’s column
Peter Lockhart
At the beginning of February the government
laid the order in parliament which could lead to
changes to the current civil service compensation
scheme. In seeking to address aspects of
the current scheme, which PCS agree are
discriminatory, the government has, in addition,
sought to cynically use the opportunity to
vastly reduce the amount of compensation any
member will receive in the event of redundancy
or severance, whether on voluntary or
compulsory terms.
Payments made under the terms of the current
scheme are on the basis of accrued rights. In
other words, every member has earned the right to
payments by dint of past service. If the government
succeed in replacing the current scheme with the
revised scheme it will mean the rights that each and
every PCS member has already paid for will be ripped
up and discarded.
Any changes that are made will at best be
extremely difficult to reverse and, in all probability,
will prove to be permanent, particularly as civil and
public servants come under increasing attacks over
the course of the next government, whichever party
prevails at the next election.
PCS members across HMRC and the VOA have
pulled out all the stops in the last few weeks to
deliver what, at the time of writing, we trust is a
positive ballot result in favour of action to defend
the current terms of the civil service compensation
scheme. The offer that is currently on the table is,
again at the time of writing, the sixth such offer
which PCS has received. As a result of consistent
pressure from PCS members, including showing a
determination to take action, each successive offer
has been an improvement on the last.
Whilst five of the other unions who have members
covered by the current scheme have accepted
the new offer, PCS is determined to ensure that
all members are protected. In truth, it will be PCS
members who will feel the real brunt of job cuts, and
it is clear that the real attacks on jobs is yet to come.
The latest offer still leaves thousands of members at
the risk of financial detriment and therefore much
more vulnerable to compulsory redundancy.
So far, neither HMRC nor the VOA has declared
any compulsory redundancies. The line is admittedly
thinly drawn, but where members have left the
department they have so far done so on a voluntary
basis, including under the current voluntary
redundancy exercise. Whether it’s the department’s
declared intention or not, an inferior CSCS will make
it far easier to cut jobs and move staff at will.
Our strategy has to be two-pronged. Firstly, we do
everything in our power to defend the current CSCS
terms. Secondly, we stand ready to take immediate
action in the event that a single member is made
compulsorily redundant or is compelled to move to
an office beyond reasonable daily travel.
We thank all members for their continued support.
OR&CLE March 2010
Page 3
News & views
Never too late!
Good news for AER applicants
Margaret Spencer and GEC member Margo McCabe
Proving that it’s never too late to secure
good deals for members, PCS in Derby
has ensured that local member Margaret
Spencer, 58, did not miss out on a
recent Approved Early Retirement (AER)
package, even though technically she
had already resigned.
‘I’d simply had enough,’ said Margaret,
echoing the thoughts of thousands of
staff around the country faced with the
upheaval and uncertainty of Workforce
Change and disruptive innovations of
doubtful benefit such as Pacesetter and
Lean.
She had taken nine weeks sick leave on
grounds of stress last summer and when
things hadn’t improved on her return,
she resigned in despair with effect from
September 30th, even though this meant
saying goodbye to any pension at all for
two years, and an actuarially reduced
entitlement when she reached 60.
Meanwhile, she had been registered
for AER since the scheme’s inception in
2004/05 and during the time she was
working through her notice, she and some
of her colleagues were formally offered AER
on 15th September. Because Margaret
was off site at the time, however, she was
not informed of the offer and would have
missed out had she not contacted PCS and
explained the dilemma.
The union took the case on, believing
that management have a duty to update
their staff via the Keep in Touch process
(KIT), especially in areas which have such a
vital bearing on workers’ well-being, and,
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OR&CLE March 2010
in this case, reasonable adjustments could
have been made to improve Margaret’s
well-being at work when she returned from
sick leave.
At first, management declared that
since she had resigned of her own free
will she could not now expect AER. In
the event, however, rather than face a
lengthy grievance process and possible
employment tribunal, management then
commendably accepted the union’s
position and ensured that Margaret was
not only awarded AER but also back dated
the deal to the time of her resignation.
‘If not for PCS, I would now be living
on fresh air!’ says Margaret. ‘ I contacted
my union rep although I had already left
my employment. She took the case on
immediately with absolute professionalism
and guided me through each step of my
grievance. The outcome was more than I
could ever have hoped for and I could not
have done it without her.’
Derby rep and GEC member Margo
McCabe organised the case and was
pleased with Margaret’s win: ‘I am pretty
certain that this is the only time Margaret
had asked the union for help on a personal
matter,’ she said. ‘People never know for
sure when they will need help from PCS. I
intend to use this as a recruitment tool in
our branch. A lot of people think they are
O.K. as things are at the moment but are
not anticipating ahead. We were able to
support this member, even though she was
technically resigned. It pays to be in the
union, whatever your circumstances!’
Cut consultants
and Forward with
the People!
GEC member Kevin McHugh from HMRC
Benton Park View was quoted in The
Daily Mirror recently. After another of
Gordon Brown’s well publicised attacks
on expensive public services, the Mirror
asked frontline workers what they would
do to cut costs.
Fire fighters, doctors, teachers, the police
and nurses all came up with excellent
schemes to reduce management and
increase frontline workers and equipment:
• More fire fighters, more fire engines and less money wasted on ineffective 999 call centres
• Less NHS managers and
more doctors
• Less inspectors, less useless initiatives and more teachers
• Less civilian staff and more bobbies on the beat
• Less outsourcing of NHS work and bring back Matron!
In Kevin’s column he rubbished LEAN as an
example of entirely unnecessary private
consultancy that is bedevilling HMRC. Vast
amounts of cash are wasted that could be
better spent on civil servants who provide
excellent value.
Kevin said: ‘Private consultants and
agency workers are doing the same job
that civil servants used to do but they get
paid five or six times more to do it. Gordon
Brown plans to cut over 100 HMRC offices
but the government will end up having to
pay agencies to do the work. This is a
waste of money because HMRC officers
only get paid an average of £20,000 a
year. Each officer collects over £600,000
per annum on average so they are a
bargain. Consultants need to be cut
because they are paid just to give silly
ideas. We have been told how to organise
our desks by marking out squares for our
stapler and phone. Those sorts of ideas
don’t actually help us.’ Too right!
News & views
Ex-Comm have wasted no time in finding
a replacement for Cathy Wilcher who
left her post as Chief People Officer at
HMRC in order to join the Prudential
and achieve a ‘better work-life balance’.
So, welcome Mr Michael Falvey, your
new CPO, head of human relations or
personnel, in old money. Mr Falvey worked
originally in the private sector but has
rather more experience of the civil service
than his predecessor, joining HMRC from
his previous post as Director General for HR
and Business Change with the Department
for Communities and Local Government.
Business Change? Hhhhmmm. Sounds
familiar? Presumably the new CPO’s foot
will be on the accelerator rather than the
brake when it comes to HMRC’s ongoing
Workforce Change cutbacks. He himself
may soon be redundant however (AER/FES/
CER/CES??). At the present rate of office
closure (another 130 announced at the
end of last year, see page 6–11), will there
soon be any people left at all?
Meanwhile, the late and unlamented Sir
Reg ‘David’ Varney, first head of HMRC has
re-emerged as chair of Barking, Havering
and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS
Trust.
When we interviewed the then Mr
Varney in 2005 on the emergence of
HMRC and likely cutbacks, he stoutly said
that compulsory staff redundancy would
always be his weapon of last resort. To be
fair, HMRC are still saying that, although
of course they have spent the last four
years trying to bully thousands of staff into
jumping before they are pushed.
Given Sir V’s record at HMRC, members
located in his new sphere of influence may
now be reluctant to check into their local
hospital (Queen’s and King George’s), even
if they need emergency treatment for
another blast of pre-surplus syndrome.
R&C young members event
Late last year in Leeds, 20 youthful
members gathered for the third three
day training event organised by the
Young Members Advisory Committee
(YMAC).
The full agenda included activities on
the make up of PCS, how young members
fit into the trade union structure, running
a campaign and how members make a
difference. A speaker also attended from
Youth Fight for Jobs explaining the aims
of the organisation and the different ways
young members can become involved.
Speaking in public is something which
reps and future reps must learn how to do
and there were a few anxious moments
before the public speaking session got
underway on the final day. In the event,
nerves were overcome and four brilliant
motions were presented to the group on
office closures, MPPA, leave entitlement
and the Spirit of Shankly affiliation.
Afterwards, PCS officer Jackie McWilliams
said: ‘All in all it was a very successful
weekend, hard work was done by all the
attendees and the feedback received was
extremely positive.’
Yet another visionary example of
HMRC’s desire to ‘put the customer
at the heart of all we do’ emerged
recently as the Chartered Institute of
Taxation (CIoT) revealed that HMRC
had released 25 million PAYE codes,
about twice as many as last year
and that many of them are wrong,
mistakes likely to cost individual tax
payers anything up to £1,295 a year
in overpaid tax. Not that all who
received the wrong codes will be too
bothered, as they are already dead,
but grieving relatives may have even
more worries to cope with.
Meanwhile the department laid
the blame on the transfer to a new IT
system and admitted that some of the
codes are indeed incorrect. ‘However,
the new system is working as it should
and we’re confident it will not happen
again.’ Contact centre workers were
given a script to this effect.
This, of course is the same
department where offices and jobs
continue to suffer savage cuts. Errors
such as the issue of wrong codes to
anything up to 75% of the working
population (dead or alive) will very
likely increase. Certainly those HMRC
customers who receive pay cuts of
£108 next month as a result of the
latest mess will be unlikely to feel
very heartened or indeed enlivened
by the department’s concern for their
wellbeing.
Pic: Shutterstock
Pic: Shutterstock
Senior movement
PAYE: HMRC
is all heart
Members of the Young Members Advisory Committee
OR&CLE March 2010
Page 5
Workforce change
Enough
is enough!
On Wednesday 13 January, HMRC confirmed the long threatened closure of 130 offices across
the UK. Of the 3,600 staff affected, 1,715 face redundancy. Ian Mellor reports
January 13 was indeed a black day.
Despite massive efforts by PCS and local
branches all over the country and
members everywhere who joined
campaigns, lobbied their MPs and
councillors and brought local people on
board via town centre meetings backed
by extensive media coverage, HMRC
issued the final notice to close 130 offices
with the potential loss of thousands of
further jobs. They are well on target for
200 office shut downs and 25000 job
losses between 2006 and 2011. It is
heartbreaking for those who have given
so much in defence of their offices, local
communities and livelihoods.
The GEC met in emergency session and
has since issued bulletins, branch and
members’ briefings under the signatures of
Group Secretary Peter Lockhart and
President Dave Bean – MBs 001 and 003
and BBs 017, 043 and 052. These explained
the situation, detailed what members might
do in order to understand their options as
fully as possible and outlined the way ahead.
From the date of the announcement to
8th February, members affected were faced
with difficult, agonising decisions which had
to be made in less than four weeks, whether
to take voluntary redundancy (VR) on
compulsory terms under the current
compulsory Civil Service Compensation
Scheme (CSCS) – Compulsory Early
Severance (CES) for staff under 50 or
Compulsory Early Retirement (CER) for those
over 50 – or wait and see. And therein lies
the dilemma, for as everyone knows, HMRC
is threatening to slash the terms of CSCS in
order to enable staff who do remain to be
sacked on the cheap.
Essentially, therefore, lines have been
drawn in the sand over these two key issues:
cuts in CSCS and compulsory redundancy.
So far, although staff have been cajoled,
coerced or even bullied into taking some
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OR&CLE March 2010
form of early release via Flexible Early
Severance (FES), Approved Early Retirement
(AER) or have transferred to other offices
within Reasonable Daily Travel (RDT), all
departures so far have been voluntary. That
situation may be about to change. For those
who have not, do not or cannot leave, then
the threat of compulsory redundancy is
looming ever closer.
PCS has agreements and protocols with
the employer which aim to avoid such
disasters, and at the moment at any rate,
the department cannot meet the expense
of enforcing redundancy among those who
are left. That is because the present terms
and conditions which apply to the CSCS are
costly. To get rid of thousands of staff
currently on the so called ‘pre-surplus’
status, ie: redundant, would indeed cost a
fortune. That is why the department is now
threatening to cut the CSCS itself so it can
sack workers on the cheap.
And that is why lines have been drawn.
The GEC have stated that should the CSCS
be radically altered, and should compulsory
redundancies be introduced, then ballots
will be triggered to invoke industrial action,
which means strike action and action short
of a strike. In fact ballots are already
underway in defence of the CSCS and news
of these can be found in these pages.
As well as the bulletins and briefings,
there are also meetings being held
throughout the country to clarify these
issues, to help members understand the
position they are now in because of the
employer’s actions and to detail the
PCS response.
Members had to decide carefully what
their best option might be and look closely
at the various schemes currently being
proffered by the department. Help was and
is available from on- site reps and local
managers but ultimately the decision could
and can only be taken according to
members’ own circumstances.
Fundamentally the union believes that far
from continuing with damaging job cuts
and office closures, HMRC should rather
invest in the workforce and departmental
assets, improve service to the customer
and thus collect more tax. This would have
a tremendously beneficial effect within
the country now weighed down with
enormous national debt. Tax justice would
become a reality as tax dodgers would be
brought to book and revenues boosted in
the best interests of all: improved national
infrastructure within a falling debt
scenario.
Meanwhile the bottom line is this: if the
department moves to make any PCS
member compulsorily redundant or seek to
force someone to move location beyond
RDT, the Group will move immediately to a
ballot for action.
At the same time, PCS and HMRC are now
into a period of ‘meaningful consultation’ in
order to seek ways to avoid compulsory
redundancy and help staff to find other jobs.
That period runs out on April 13th.
In a personal address to members
everywhere, including members in the VOA,
Peter Lockhart and Dave Bean said: ‘Please
do everything you can to support the call
for an end to job cuts and office closures:
• Write to your local MP asking that they pledge support for tax offices and jobs in their constituency under threat and also to sign Early Day Motion No 251 in Parliament which makes clear the link between accelerated job cuts and detrimental changes to CSCS
• Make sure that your branch is represented at the national lobby of parliament on
10 March
• Support the national ballot and take action to defend the civil service compensation scheme.
Workforce change
Laments
for lost jobs
✁
Pic: Harlow Star
Before going to press, we collected
reactions from reps and members
around the country about HMRC’s latest
onslaught on offices and jobs. There
was even a poem sent from members in
Peterhead:
For all of us it’s very sad:
HMRC is totally mad!
Our office more than paid its way,
It makes sense that we should stay.
What service for the public now?
By whom and when and where and how?
Of the photographs on these pages, the
one of members in Perth above is typical.
Since it was taken in November 2007, only
one of the six members pictured is still left
in the local office.
Harlow
Members in Harlow immediately formed
a protest group outside their condemned
office (see picture) which appeared in the
Harlow Star. In fact the story sums up the
national position:
‘PCS Cambridge Revenue Branch warned
that Harlow taxpayers and tax credit
claimants face a dramatic deterioration in
the level of service they could expect from
HMRC. PCS Branch secretary Mike Black
said: ‘These ill-considered and unnecessary
job cuts are the last thing Harlow needs. It
makes no sense to destroy these jobs when
each additional member of staff in HMRC can
bring in far more money to help the public
finances than it costs to employ them.’
Over 20,000 jobs have already gone since
2006. Over the same time the percentage of
uncollected tax written off as ‘doubtful to be
collected’ has risen from 23% in 2006 to 40%
in 2009, meaning that HMRC have effectively
written off £11 billion of tax for 2008/09.
With over £130 billion worth of tax going
uncollected, avoided or evaded, the union
urged HMRC and the government to focus
on closing the tax gap rather than focusing
on slashing jobs and closing offices. Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS
general secretary, said: ‘Access to tax
advice in communities across the UK
will be damaged by the confirmation of
these closures, which will hit businesses
and the public, as well as taking quality
jobs out of local communities during a
recession. It is no coincidence that as
HMRC staff have been cut, the amount of
OR&CLE March 2010
Page 7
Workforce change
uncollected tax written off as doubtful has
nearly doubled. There is over £130 billion
which is uncollected, evaded and avoided
which could go towards closing the public
deficit. Closing offices and slashing jobs
makes no economic sense and will do
nothing to help the recovery. Rather than
cuts, the government should be investing
to recoup the lost billions in tax.’
Ballymena
Horsham
part time workers, female and those with
caring responsibilities.
Targeting the offices in Ballymena and
Banbridge will have a further detrimental
effect on the Department’s commitment to
equality, where monitoring under fair
employment already shows an imbalance.
Bath, Chippenham, Frome, Wells
and Weston-Super-Mare
Members in Horsham, where 44 jobs are to
go, were shocked and devastated,
according to David White, reporter for the
West Sussex County Times. Office rep
Pauline Singleton said: ‘We are all
devastated, obviously. There’s a wealth of
knowledge here, and experience. The
public will suffer because of the move and I
have no faith left in this government. It’s a
very sad situation because we’re such a
highly motivated experienced office that’s
been offering a good service to local and
national taxpayers for a very long time.
Portsmouth is the nearest office where
work was available but it is way beyond
RDT. I think the majority of members will
leave before the end of March because
they are about to change the
compensation package for civil servants.’
Ballymena and Banbridge
Members are
devastated at the
announcement and
the short time
frame to make lifechanging decisions.
It undermines all of
the assurances from
HMRC about
working with staff
to find HR solutions.
Karen Taylor writes:
Staff feel they are
being forced into a situation where they
have no option but to leave. The decision
gives no due consideration to the
Department’s knowledge that those
impacted by this decision are in the main,
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OR&CLE March 2010
those outside RDT who wish to move are
being put on hold until the numbers of
staff taking VR becomes clearer. These staff
are thus further disadvantaged within WFC.
Staff feel that local managers have been
very supportive but the people making the
decisions higher up really need to sort out
how the closures are being run. The union
locally has tried to ensure that staff are
receiving the correct information and the
ULRs are working with a local college to try
and arrange some educational support for
members..
Jason Wilkins writes
Staff in Weston Super Mare were told that
there would be local meetings to give us
supportive guidance. Local to us was
Okehampton (Dartmoor) where we were
subjected to a meeting that was clearly
steered to making us want to leave. We were offered Jobs in other government
departments via the internal web pages
but strangely I don’t feel that an AO
position in the Harmful Algal Biotoxins in
the Shellfish Team in Weymouth is a
position that I feel qualified to take up!
Hereford
Owain Shearman reports
Reaction was initially a numbed silence at
the expected but un-wanted
announcement. Staff also felt that the
wording of ‘voluntary’ severance was
misleading, for the majority of surplus staff
in the smaller offices there is no real
choice. People are now unable to be
guaranteed a transfer into the strategic
site of Bristol as the doors were very firmly
shut on January 13, despite there being
Weston-Super-Mare
ample space to accommodate the amount
of staff now wishing to transfer from the
smaller sites.
Those within RDT who haven’t yet moved
to Bristol are still allowed to do so, but
Steve Birch writes:
In Hereford there was no surprise that the
office was to close but there was a real
sense of shock and consternation at the
suddenness of the departure date given in
the 13th January announcement. Staff feel
that the official side left a lot unsaid about
what happens to people if they are unable
to take up the offers. We are left with a
series of veiled threats if we do not. There
was a strong feeling of being pressurised
into making a life changing decision in a
very short period of time. The implications and impact for every
member of staff in this office clearly differs
depending on their own personal
circumstances. Issues include: both
partners working in the same office,
younger staff with fewer years in service
with young families and people just under
50 required to go on CES, not CER. These
are real issues impacting adversely on real
people affecting their homes and family
life. Mortgages still have to be paid. This is
not a case of ‘aren’t we lucky to have been
given such a great offer’. Most of the
people here just want and need a job.
Line management approach has ranged
from serious concern for their staff to
outright indifference. Potential solutions
appear to be dismissed out of hand. People
who have been in receipt of letters to say
they can go to Gloucester are now being
told they will not be moved to any office,
whether just outside RDT, even with the
worker’s agreement. Working from home is
now declared to not be an option and no
one is likely to be declared business critical
and in line for a homes assisted move. This
process appears to be all about closing
offices and forcing people to think that
taking the package is their only alternative.
In a rural location where very low pay is
the norm and when we are in the middle
of the biggest recession in two
generations, it is not surprising that the
prospect of suddenly becoming
unemployed is very daunting. There are
poor job opportunities and very low wages
out in the private sector in Hereford were
the average wage for a man is only £11k.
Other government departments based
here, like DWP and MOD are currently not
recruiting staff and given future
government cuts are unlikely to be doing
so for some time. There is going to be real
hardship felt by the surplus staff in this
area.
The union helps by trying to find answers
to the concerns raised. However, no one
feels they are challenging the department
on the issues needing to be addressed.
People can only make decisions about their
future if they understand the options truly
open to them. On the whole people are
intimidated by the lack of certainty if they
were to say no to the offer.
Darlington, Bishop Auckland
A personal reaction from a local rep who
moved north after experiencing Workforce
Change at a non-strategic site in the south:
It’s all deeply and personally upsetting. . .
I note that the official side briefings have
stated that if people wish to remain in the
civil service they will give help and support
to find other positions. But there are no
guarantees here and very little comfort. All
of those with pre-surplus status have been
looking for these opportunities since this
whole mess started, and (unless you count
the push to JobCentre+ due only to the
current economic climate) very few of
them have managed to land jobs with
Illustration: Gary Kempston
Workforce
change
Branch mergers
OGDs as they are in the same position as
we are. If you look at the priority movers/
job journal site on the intranet, you won’t
find many jobs there unless you happen to
be an HO or above or within RDT of a
contact centre. And if you read the CCD
site as I do, you will know that they are in
actual fact looking to reduce their staff.
Indeed, CCD is running out of money and is
in a bad way itself, so the route there is not
exactly encouraging.
The others are usually widely out of our
range of expertise – experimental biologist
anyone? Mechanic with the MOD? Fishery
assistant?
There are certainly not 1715 jobs being
advertised at the moment so if everyone
decides to reject the department’s offer of
voluntary redundancy on compulsory terms
then they are in very big trouble indeed.
Not one of us is safe! If HMRC decide
that they wish to continue ‘rationalising’
their estate and continue with this
misguided belief that big is beautiful,
centralisation is the answer, and that SA
can all be done on-line, then not one of us
can be content to believe that our jobs are
secure. Remember – the 1715 people
being offered redundancy today are being
offered it on the current negotiated terms.
The powers-that-be surely want to get that
‘new’ scheme in as soon as possible so that
future ‘offers’ can be made on vastly
reduced terms.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder to
support the PCS on this. Only YOU can do
this. If you value your employment, your
terms and conditions, your flexi time then
please – support your union! Otherwise,
when they come for us there may be no
one left to fight at all!
Ayr, Dumbarton, Dunoon
Brian McAuley writes:
Many of the staff in Ayr that are being
made surplus received assurances that they
would end up in Irvine office. Indeed the
CT group received letters to that very end.
We wonder why the assurances have been
reneged upon?
Only one officer in Dumbarton is involved
and she is delighted to be offered terms as
she has been wanting to go for the last
two years. She is a member of the Claimant
Compliance team who has basically been
‘stranded’ since June 2006 when the CCT
moved to East Kilbride. As a Band AA she is
not mobile and remained in Dumbarton. I
have a worry about the remaining F2F staff
here as the AA provided H&S cover.
Three members of staff in Dunoon are
OR&CLE March 2010
Page 9
Workforce change
affected – two are happy to go and the
third has been granted permission to work
from home. Again I have a worry about the
remaining F2F staff here.
Greenock
report from PCS rep:
The three of us made surplus are delighted
and will be applying for CES/CER. The
people who ‘guest’ here expected this to
happen and will make arrangements. The
F2F staff are not happy. Some of them
didn’t apply to go there in the first place.
They realise that in the future the axe will
fall on them, but probably on less favorable
terms. They are also annoyed that they
have no info on where they will actually be
working from once we vacate this building.
relief because of the long wait, not
knowing what was happening and when,
anger, frustration at the lack of information
and answers, worry about the future and
most people said they felt like it had been
a real body blow.
There was some annoyance at the five
different versions that appeared
throughout the morning. The department’s
lead had five separate meetings and more
information leaked out during each, so
there was inconsistency. One key piece of
information that did not come out was the
Rothesay
report from PCS Rep:
Rothesay is on a very small island and to
find alternative employment will be nigh
on impossible. Traveling to the mainland to
seek work is very costly, to get into
Glasgow is £15.45 per day.
The news was pretty devastating, the
senior grade presence here was told just
before me, and we both had a somewhat
shocked discussion prior to the office
announcement. The announcement was
greeted with utter shock – from where I
was sitting, I could see all the staff and
their faces told the whole story, pretty
horrific.
General feelings (apart from the shock,
which is still pretty raw) are that we have
had a gun put to our head. Questions
raised and not answered were:
•Could we have a comparison with the voluntary redundancy on 31/02/10 and any compulsory redundancy after that date?
•Will the department be providing training on completion of CVs etc, or details on what state benefits are available and how to claim these?
I suppose we should have expected
something bad, (clearing of store room to
be completed by 31/01/10, assets register
updated recently, outside senior manager
making the announcement) but we
didn’t. Still, we have to save the bankers!
Perth
Jane Edwards writes:
The announcement was met with a real
mixture of feelings and emotions: sadness,
Page 10
OR&CLE March 2010
Perth
closing date for making a definite
application for CES/CER - 26th February.
Lots of questions were asked around
options for those who did not/could not
apply for CES/CER. No answers were
available and the only answer we did get
was that the HMRC would definitely not
get us the information before the 8th
February deadline for expressions of
interest. Staff are angry that decisions have
to be made without proper alternatives.
There was also some annoyance at the
cost of sending two HMRC officials people
to Perth, hotel bills etc, from Monday 11th
when the announcement was Wednesday
13th. This was felt to be a waste of
taxpayer’s money and a slap in the face
when senior people can get a three-day
jolly to tell others that they are going to
lose their jobs.
Peterhead
Staff were also angry and insulted at
insensitive comments made by senior
managers unaffected by the
announcements. Two specific examples
were that ‘we’ (the department) don’t have
to worry about those locations now, given
the announcement, and another: ‘no need
to worry about lack of spare cupboards and
furniture, there’ll be plenty around when all
these offices shut.’
Now on reflection, staff are feeling
worried about the future for themselves
and their families They are angry at the
lack of information coming out and
annoyed at the very short timescale being
applied to make a life-changing decision.
All describe feeling stressed and are losing
Newport
sleep or not sleeping properly, waking up
thinking about what to do, not enjoying
normal pursuits and other welldocumented symptoms of stress.
We have one member who is willing and
able to relocate to Dundee but HMRC is
prevaricating because of the business
stream ‘silo mentality’. We have another
member who was badgered and pestered
(bullied even) out of HMRC on AER on 31st
December, only to discover that they
would have received an enhanced package
had they waited less than two weeks into
2010 (cf: Scarborough report, right).
We have our seminar (although we are
not expecting much out of it) next week in
Workforce change
have made £12 million per year instead of the £5 million currently raised. The department could have used this to offset the estimated £40-£70 million it is throwing at us in order to ‘get rid quick’.
Pic: John Birdsall
Newport, South Wales
Cumbernauld. It is probably the most
awkward place in Scotland to reach by
public transport, on the mainland at least.
In typical style, the time has already been
changed once.
At the time of writing there is not one
HMRC vacancy in Scotland at any pay band
from AA to SO, indeed for AA, AO and O
there are no vacancies at all throughout
the entire UK.
Peterhead
Mark Chapman and members report:
• HMRC does not seem to be getting the message that once it has lost its loyal and highly knowledgeable staff the likelihood is that the department will be brought to its knees and will take years to recover. Who will do the work of the strategic sites that has been coming out to us? Will they leave it to pile up as was demonstrated by the tax returns this year?
• The shortsightedness of HMRC which appears only to see £ signs will spell chaos and inconvenience to those of our customers who are, at present, compliant. The department is giving those who thrive on evading their tax responsibilities a licence to print money and sending out the message that it does not mind if these people don’t contribute towards our economy.
• The ignorance and arrogance shown by this department towards a successful Fisherman’s Deduction Scheme is scandalous. Had proposals for a dedicated site for all aspects relating to fishing matters been accepted and implemented here, then HMRC could Reg Smith writes:
Staff battled into the office on 13 January
because of the snow and icy conditions
only to have our worst fears confirmed
with the final death knell of the office so
many had fought so hard to keep open.
After the way HMRC has so casually
tossed aside the knowledge, commitment
loyalty and experience gained by staff in
‘local offices’ it came however as no real
surprise but despite the best efforts of the
manager delivering the message to be as
humane as possible it still wounded many
to be told you are no longer wanted so go.
The disappointment soon turned to
anger in many because despite the finality
of the message it quickly became clear that
like so many other things, HMRC has failed
to plan and manage these
closures. Questions from staff about issues
of vital importance to them have been
fudged with what appears to be a ‘make it
up as you go along’ approach and for many
this just adds to the anxiety and the feeling
that we are now an embarrassment to be
pushed out the door as quickly as possible.
After many years of loyal service and
putting up with the many management
fads, many are glad to be leaving although
the circumstances leave a bitter taste. The
worry many of us have is for the future of
friends and colleagues having to continue
to work in a department that appears to
be totally out of control. Bradford
Brian Lawson report
PCS members in the Bradford cluster
reacted angrily to the workforce change
announcement of 13 January. The Bradford
branch has campaigned vigorously against
local office closures and job cuts.
Samantha Allen, PCS office secretary for
the Skipton office said: ‘Shock, outrage and
utter contempt are the words that spring
to mind, whilst some members are pleased
with their offer, the majority would rather
have the job they have been paid to do for
the past 20+ years. We have been kept in
the dark and are being asked to make life
changing decisions based on little or no
fact what so ever’.
Scarborough
In common with many others, ex-branch
secretary John Barrett took Approved
Early Retirement (AER) at the end of last
year. He is understandably very angry that
having been cajoled into retirement on
the assumption that no more packages
might be offered, he now knows that the
present CER scheme now on offer would
have been far better for him. In an open
letter to HMRC he made his feelings clear.
Here is an extract:
I reached the decision to go reluctantly
as AER offered only meagre terms and in
truth I felt cheated. But my contractual
rights to full compensation terms,
including enhanced pension and lump
sum were not only under threat, but so
too was any future prospect of even AER.
Yet, given the fact that last week full
contractual entitlements became
available to my former colleagues in
Scarborough and offices like it, I clearly
left HMRC under the threat of a
departmental lie.
Not only was that round of AER not
going to be the ‘final chance’ but the
HMRC powers that be must have then
known that they were cynically taking
their mind games strategy to an entirely
new level. They had clearly decided to
shake a few more out on cheap AER terms
just before making an unexpected fresh
offer of full compensation only a few
weeks later. What a disgusting way to
treat loyal, long serving staff members.
Those HMRC senior managers responsible
for exploiting staff uncertainty and fear
should be ashamed of themselves.
And yes I know they can say that I and
others who took AER before Christmas did
‘volunteer’ for that compensation
package – but most (if not all) did so
under duress. No doubt those same
managers will try to reassure us that they
did not know that full compensation
packages would become available within
a few working days of many leaving HMRC
on inferior AER terms? In that case why
doesn’t HMRC do the honourable thing
and re-visit the terms upon which staff
like me left HMRC?
Of course there’s no chance of that
happening. I and those many others who
have taken AER have been cheated. HMRC
have cynically exploited our vulnerability
to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme
uncertainty. What a way to treat staff
who signed up to a working life in public
service. HMRC, shame on you!
OR&CLE March 2010
Page 11
Long service
Seeking
a worthy
winner
Bishambher Shukla believes he deserves
recognition as the UK’s longest serving civil
servant from an ethnic community. PCS is
campaigning on his behalf. Ian Mellor writes
Bishambher Shukla, or Mr Shukla as everyone knows him, has
never been one to let life simply takes its course. He’d much
rather seize the moment and aim high. Even though he is now
retired after almost 42 years in the Civil Service he is confident
that HMRC’s newly appointed Race Champion, Dave Hartnett,
will back his case with the Cabinet Office for a suitable award to
honour his outstanding achievement as Britain’s longest serving
public servant from an ethnic community.
Born as one of five brothers during the dying days of the British
Raj in Sitapur, northern India, after a successful school and university
career taking degrees in science and law and a diploma in public
administration, he determined to forge a career in the UK arriving
here in 1965 to further his education.
Unable to make ends meet at first, like so many of his highly
qualified contemporaries from many parts of the by now former
Empire, he needed a job. After a few months as a postman, he was
able to join the former Board of Trade in 1966, transferring to the
former Inland Revenue in 1969. Over four decades he worked all over
London at what is now Band O, retiring from Local Compliance in
Croydon in 2007, having been with what is now Capital Transfer Tax
and later the surtax office in Hinchley Wood.
Mr Shukla’s work was first class and he received glowing reports
from his managers and local accountants where he gained a
reputation for being able to solve difficult, long standing cases. He
was keen for promotion and applied for higher grades but as his
colleagues moved on he found himself increasingly left behind. Sadly,
equality and diversity issues were virtually ignored in those days and
it is difficult not to agree with his belief that his ethnicity was in fact
holding him back.
‘They were no doubt difficult times for most members of ethnic
minorities trying to make a successful go of things,’ he says now:
’and certainly things have become far, far better in recent years. By
the time they did, though, I think I was then regarded as too old for
promotion, so I missed out twice.’
He smiles ruefully: ‘It was certainly difficult to believe in fair play
when I was openly criticised by one senior member of an interview
panel because he claimed not to understand my accent. Of course I
do have an accent, like everyone else, but I have never had difficulty
in communicating with my colleagues, clients or any members of the
Page 12
OR&CLE March 2010
Bishambher Shukla at home: A worthy winner
public. It was discrimination against my ethnicity, simply. The British
deep sense of fair play was betrayed and I feel intense loyalty to
Britain. As we Hindus say: ‘I have eaten your salt’ and therefore owe
my allegiance to you.’
On the verge of retirement in 2007, he had a letter published in
the department’s newspaper, oneHMRC, praising the way the new
department ‘places equality and diversity policies at the highest level’
and suggesting that as the longest serving British Indian still working,
an award to recognise this would not be unwelcome.
Needless to say, recognition was not forthcoming although he had
to turn down an invitation to speak at HMRC’s first Race Staff Network
Conference through ill-health. The department in fact now takes
race issues far more seriously and after Mr Shukla turned to PCS, the
R&C groups Black and Asian Members’ Advisory Committee (BAMAC)
approached assistant group secretary Cath Coldbeck to take his case
to Dave Hartnett, No 3 in HMRC and the new Race Champion.
‘I’d written direct to the General Secretary Mark Serwotka, and
he passed me on to BAMAC then Cath,’ he says. And in fact Dave
Hartnett immediately agreed that an award would indeed be very
appropriate and informed the Cabinet Office……..
…..where things yet again ground to a halt and where they now
remain. Apparently the rules state that once a person has retired from
government service, he or she cannot receive honours such as MBE or
OBE retrospectively.
Still determined, Mr Shukla has now written to Sir Gus O’Donnell
himself, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service,
wondering why such rules could not be changed. At the time of
writing, Sir Gus has not replied but with both PCS and HMRC’s Race
Champion pressing his case, we look forward to better news soon.
Certainly when members of other professions can receive honours
long after they have produced their best work, it seems perverse
that civil servants cannot achieve retrospective recognition. No one
denies Mr Shukla’s special contribution, and that cannot be changed,
whether he is retired or not.
Equalities
International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is
an event that originated in
1908 in New York when
women garment workers
demanded better working
conditions. The women
worked in bad conditions and
earned only half of men’s
wages. They also died early
due to the appalling working
conditions, and did not have
the right to vote.
At the same time in the UK
women were also struggling to
obtain social equality- most
prominently through the
suffragette movement.
In 1910 an International
conference of women
determined that each year a
day should be set aside to press
for women’s demands to build
a society that is fair to all its
members in which diversity,
tolerance, safety, social justice
and social equality between
women and men were valued.
In short a day which women
mark and celebrate what they
have done and can do.
This year’s theme is “Women
on the Agenda”, looking at
promoting the role of women
in the workplace and in the
union movement.
The Group Women’s Advisory
Committee would like to see
every branch highlight the day.
How can we do this • Hold a discussion meeting about issues that have an effect on women. This could be in the work place. This could even be in the form of a coffee morning.
• Invite a prominent woman, perhaps a local politician or a local hero to talk about the involvement women have in the community, and what obstacles they may have encountered.
• You could also invite local health organisations to help promote women’s health issues.
You just have to look at the
gender split between grades in
HMRC to see that despite all
that has been achieved in
terms of equality we still have a
long way to go. However it is
not just within senior grades in
HMRC where women can be
under represented; women
make up 60% of PCS members
but they are not yet fully
represented proportionally
amongst union post holders.
One way PCS has looked
to address this is by creating
the role of Branch Women’s
Officer and through forming
Branch Women’s Advisory
Committees (BWAC). Attending
a BWAC meeting is a good
way to encourage women
to participate in union
activities and take up activist
positions.
Look out for details of the
National Women’s Seminar
which is shortly to be
announced by the NEC. Any
member can apply to go to this
and it is a great way to learn
what issues are affecting
women, and more importantly
how the union is looking to
challenge them.
Flogging a
dead horse
Many are yet to be convinced about the brave new
world of Pacesetter. From our own correspondent
The tribal wisdom of the
Dakota Indians, passed down
from generation to generation,
says that when you discover
you are riding a dead horse, the
best strategy is to dismount.
In Pacesetter however, a whole
range of far more advanced
strategies are often employed,
such as:• Claim the horse dying was actually part of the Business Plan.
• Change riders, usually to someone at a lower grade.
• Buy a stronger whip. This could include, but is not restricted to, threatening a less effective marking.
• Do nothing: ... ‘this is the way we have always ridden dead horses’.
• Perform a productivity study value stream mapping to see if resourcing to risk/ increased mobility / flexibility will improve the dead horse’s performance.
• Hire a contractor to ride the dead horse (extremely useful as a saddle when it comes to protecting your backside)
• Provide upskilling to increase the dead horse’s performance.
• Appoint a committee / working group to study the horse and assess how dead it actually is, put it on a 3C and hold a problem solving meeting.
• Develop a Strategic Plan for the management of dead horses.
• Re-write the performance indicators for all horses.
• Modify existing standards to include dead horses.
An isolated south coast tribe
had these observations to add:
• Obtain port health authority certificate to certify that
dead horses are still
capable of standing at
daily meetings.
• Squaws set national
standard on how many Christmas cards dead
horses may have in their stall/stable.
• Flog dead horses publicly
for daring to make a
joke about standing
at meetings.
OR&CLE March 2010
Page
Page13
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Prize Crossword
By BestCrosswords.com Used by permission (N.B. The crossword below has been compiled in the USA)
Entries to the editor by 1 April. First correct solution drawn wins £20.
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Quiz Corner By Elevenses
Which Year? £25 cash prize!
Answers to the editor by 1 April 2010
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• Nelson Mandela jailed for life
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• Palestine Liberation Organisation founded
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• Maria Bueno wins Wimbledon
• The Carpetbaggers is the last film for Alan Ladd
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Congratulations to December/January winner
Mrs L.M. Naylor, Harrogate. Answer: 1997
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• It’s All Over Now is July No 1 for the Rolling Stones
There was no December/January prize crossword
winner.
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Sudoku
The grid comprises nine blocks each with
nine cells. Complete the blank cells using the
numbers 1 to 9. Each number must appear just
once in each row, column and block.
No.39 (medium)
Across
1- Artery that feeds the trunk; 6- Formicary residents; 10- Blueprint details; 14- Twilight; 15- Ark
builder; 16- Hot rock; 17- Ages; 18- Travel from place to place; 19- Heroic; 20- Pole; 21- First 5
books of the Old Testament; 23- Tums e.g.; 25- Become encased in a cocoon; 26- Chop off; 27Nursemaid; 29- Rid of insect pestse; 32- Fungal infection; 33- Help; 36- Small drink; 37- Seal;
38- Legal rights org.; 39- Hanoi holiday; 40- Veronica of ‘Hill Street Blues”; 41- A lot; 42- More
wan ; 43- TKO caller; 44- Literary ridicule; 47- Composed of standardized units; 51- Slapstick;
54- Boot bottom; 55- Hog sound; 56- Places to sleep; 57- Split radially; 58- “Hard ____! (sailor’s
yell); 59- Former Fords; 60- Very much; 61- For fear that; 62- New Orleans is The Big _____; 63Cordillera of South America;
Down
1- Brightly coloured lizard; 2- New York city; 3- Perch; 4- Rare metallic element; 5- Early hrs.;
6- Chipped in; 7- Midday; 8- Lacking slack; 9- Artillery fragments; 10- Drowsy; 11- _____ New
Guinea; 12- Eject; 13- Hiding place; 21- Lulu; 22- “Chicken of the sea”; 24- Gear tooth; 27Chad neighbour; 28- Indigo; 29- Banned spray; 30- Before; 31- Baseball club; 32- Duration;
33- Perform in a play; 34- Land in la mer; 35- Dull brown; 37- Marketable; 38- Pouring on of
waters; 40- Listening attentively; 41- Brit. lexicon; 42- Paling; 43- Balderdash; 44- Toast; 45Old womanish; 46- Shades; 47- Untidy; 48- Adored; 49- Coeur d’_____; 50- Tears; 52- Second
letter of the Greek alphabet; 53- Probability; 57- Genetic messanger;
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FUN QUIZ (answers below)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
In which East End pub did Ronnie Kray shoot George Cornell?
How is the Walker Brothers’ hit The Sun Aint Gonna Shine Any more connected to the above?
Name the last track on the Doors’ album The Doors.
On what date did George Best play his last competetive game for Man Utd?
Who spent her time in prison embroidering the words En ma Fin git mon Commencement?
Name the last chemical element to be discovered, possibly.
In The Rough Guide to the Beatles, which song in No 50 of their best 50?
According to Buddhist faith, what is the final state of Nirvana?
Which geological period is also known as the Age of the Dinosaurs?
As Hamlet lies dying at the end of the play, what farewell words are spoken by Horatio?
1. The Blind Beggar, Whitechapel 2. The barmaid had chosen the song on the dukebox. As Cornell was shot
it stuck on the word ‘anymore’ 3. The End 4. January 1, 1974 5. Mary, Queen of Scots 6. Unbibium, atomic
number 122 7. Free as a bird 8. Parinivarna 9. The Cretaceous period 10. Good night, sweet prince, and
flights of angels sing thee to thy rest
Page 14
OR&CLE March 2010
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Letters
Send your letters or articles to the Oracle Editor at: 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2LN
Tel: 020 7801 2884 Fax: 020 7801 2888 email: [email protected]
Heartless HMRC? – STAR LETTER
Imagine, if you will a widget factory near you. It’s 8am and
the assembly team are gathered for their morning briefing by
the supervisor.
‘Now people’, he says, ‘our widget production needs to be
increased so we’re introducing a new system called LEAN from
today. Our management will decide each morning how many
widgets need to be made that day. The day will be broken down
into hours and you will be asked how many widgets you’ve
assembled in the previous hour and this will go up on a board. I’ll
be holding team meetings twice a day to discuss how things are
going but of course management will expect you to keep up with
the targets at all times’.
Does this sound familiar? Well, if you work in CT Ops, then
this is the reality- only its called Pacesetter now, as LEAN has a
bad press. An already overworked and disheartened workforce
are having this imposed on them in order to facilitate what
management state is ‘putting the customer at the heart of
everything we do and improving their HMRC experience.’
PAYE pain
The introduction of the new PAYE system has been hailed
a success by senior management. Only now are we getting
occasional mentions of ‘teething problems’. Well, as
someone who works the system I know the list of ‘teething
problems’ is as long as your arm – things the system
cannot do, or does wrong. I am quite content to recognise
a couple of things the new system does better than the
old one. Indeed, for all I know, what I see as a long list
of problems may be no more, or even less, than would be
expected for a computer project on this scale.
But why are Senior Management in such denial about
the problems? Perhaps they don’t know, in which case it
is incompetence. Or, perhaps, after the initial gung ho PR
applause for the ‘all singing, all dancing ‘ system they can only
admit grudgingly to any difficulties. Amidst many, the one that
particularly bothered me concerned some people who were
due repayments which could not be made because of a known
LEAN losses
Readers suffering an overdose of LEAN might be
interested to note the following extract from the January
newsletter of Vanguard, the management consultancy
led by Professor John Seddon which interprets the Toyota
Production System (TPS) for service organisations:
‘HMRC is failing to collect £28 billion in owed taxes, more
than 15% of the current budget deficit! More importantly, this
failure to achieve the purpose has become worse, in fact twice
as bad, over the last three years. So we must ask ourselves
what has HMRC been doing over these last three years? They
have been doing ‘LEAN’, guided by tool-heads; it amounts to
wrong-headed industrialisation. I can bet all their measures
will be concerned with activity and cost, measures that always
undermine achievement of purpose, and drive costs up.
We know from their presentations about the ‘lean’ programme
that they monitor workers’ activity and they have standardised
the work, both of which will undermine achievement of
purpose; and they have no idea of the volume of failure
demand being caused (which will be very high and indicates
the extent of failure to achieve purpose).
I’ve worked in CT for over 30 years as a Technical Inspector
and I have never seen such an ill thought out, anti-staff and
anti-customer system. As the local PCS Branch Secretary I’ve
told management the whole thing will be an absolute shambles
but I might as well speak to a brick wall. The level of attempted
brainwashing going on by the Pacesetter team is frightening to
behold, and woe betide anyone who actually speaks out against
what is happening.
Part of me says just sit back and let it all fall apart. This,
however, doesn’t help the ‘poor bloody infantry’ who are at
the sharp end trying to do a good job with insufficient staff.
The division of HMRC into myriad business streams has seriously
damaged the ability of PCS to fight what is going on. Remember,
everyone, this madness is coming to you all eventually. We really
need to have a national strategy to combat what is going on but
I fear it is already too late.
Dave McCormac
Aberdeen Taxes Branch Secretary
problem with the system. This is the erroneous SA indicator news board 641/09 for the initiated.
We knew they were due money back, they had given us the
information we needed, we could work out the repayments
and the old COP system would have had no problem dealing
with the matter. Yet we were told to issue more forms (SA
returns) for information we already had, doubtless at some
cost to the individual in terms of their time, effort and money.
There was even a manual way around the problem which some
of us took initially, until we were specifically banned from
doing so – news board 554/09.
And the Charter says we will ‘do all we can to keep the cost
of dealing with us as low as possible’? I suppose that pretending
all is well with their new toy is more important than, er, ‘putting
the customer at the heart of everything we do’.
David Coote
Luton
Recent press interviews with the new chief at HMRC reveal
that morale is low, but the chief has no idea why. While I am on
the subject, we reckon the costs of failure demand downstream
of HMRC (people who have not got their problem solved who
turn up at other services for help) to be about £300 million.
Imagine the impact on public finances if HMRC were to work.’
Bob Farmer
Cust OPS PSA Strategic Nth
Editor’s note: Oracle supports Vanguard. In our November
2006 edition we wrote: ‘John Seddon believes that HMRC has
introduced a system of working which corrupts the sprit of LEAN
to the point where staff are forced to work a system which is not
LEAN at all but merely yet another version of the all too familiar
‘command and control’ management style which attempts to
enforce standardisation of work and set unrealistic and unnecessary
targets and service level agreements which, far from saving money
and improving output and customer care, will send staff morale
through the floor, drive up costs and alienate untold numbers of
disgruntled customers who have no choice but to use the ‘service’.
OR&CLE March 2010
Page 15
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