Tax office 'at melting point' claims tax officer

HM Revenue and Customs has come under sustained criticism

HM Revenue and Customs is in a state of near collapse, a department insider has told the Today programme.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the tax officer with 10 years experience told reporter Andrew Hosken morale is at an all-time low and senior management is in denial at the scale of the problem.

"We don't have the staff we need, we don't have the resources we need and the computer systems we use are atrocious," she said.

A spokesman for HMRC said its staff were hard-working and dedicated, daily collected £1.1 billion in revenue and pay out more than £98m in benefits and credits. It said the overpayments and underpayments of tax had nothing to do with the IT system.

But the insider said: "HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) hasn't been fit for purpose for a very long time and it is now at melting point."

The criticisms come as requests for repayment of miscalculated tax receipts are starting to land on people's doorsteps, after a new computer system identified some six million people had paid the wrong amount of tax.

But the new system, says the tax officer, is riddled with faults that continue to cause problems.

"We're I think on the fourth release now of the update to the software and it's still not working properly," she says.

On top of this, she claims a lack of staff to check individual cases means the mistakes will keep on being passed on to the taxpayer.

'Good luck'

For those seeking face-to-face advice from HMRC on how to resolve their tax claim, her view is no less bleak.

"Good luck for them to get in and see us," she says.

Cuts to inquiry centre hours mean that, even if people manage to find an open centre, the chances of getting an appointment are "slim to none".

And she adds: "What'll happen, as much as staff at Revenue and Customs hate it, is that they'll be put on a telephone where they're understaffed, and there's not enough people to answer the phones.

"Or they'll be told to write in, thus exacerbating the problem of the million pieces of post we have on hand already."

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On the other hand, she also claims that staff shortages in the debt management department mean they are are unable to chase up non-payment.

"It means the country doesn't have the money it needs to run because we're not resourced properly enough to collect those taxes in," she says.

The officer adds the problem is exacerbated by a reluctance from senior management in the department to tackle the issue.

"They are sticking their heads in the sand over this problem," she told Today.

"They seem to think the next new idea is the one that solves everything, no matter how many times we tell them it won't."

Low morale

In addition the widespread problems mean the department is, in her words, "not a fun place to work".

"Morale is lower than I've ever known it since I've been with the department," she believes.

"People are just desperate to get out, they wonder why they come into work in the morning."

To her mind there is one simple short- and long-term solution:

"Resource HMRC properly, staff it properly, and we will go out there and we will collect the money to run the country."

A spokesman for HMRC defended the service.

"Last year we took around 60 million calls at our contact centres and the overwhelming majority of the people we deal with are happy with our service. This is remarkable by any measure and is testament to the commitment and hard work put in by our staff.

"The top priority for HMRC is to narrow the tax gap - we focus resources into the areas of greatest risk of tax loss - this is a highly successful approach and it will continue.

"The issues around under and overpayments has nothing to do with the IT system. This year and going forward the new IT system, which better suits the needs of modern working practices will mean more people paying exactly the right tax at the right time than ever before.

"PAYE has successfully collected tax in the UK for 66 years but in the longer term the government has made it clear that there is an urgent need to reform our PAYE system so it can better reflect modern working patterns.

"The government is taking steps to ensure the small minority of taxpayers who face an underpayment find the experience as painless as possible and hardship is taken into account."