Racist HMRC staff

[llcoolphil]

This was also a relatively small office of 200 people. It's still a huge organisation overall, with some very large departments, where I think this kind of thing is less likely to be allowed to develop.

Good riddance to them, I'm glad they were caught.

There's a lot of information on the HMRC website if anyone's worried they're not getting what they're entitled to, or you could give the contact centre a call. All calls there are recorded, and are regularly monitored, so you can be assured of fair treatment.

[llcoolphil]

Yes, I agree. It's vital for HMRC to retain public confidence. Incidents like this are not helping at all. At least these people have been weeded out now.

[feral chile]

You can train and teach as much as you like does not mean people will change their views.

Also on that assessment you would also say that these people have been through that training and its not achieved anything.

The point here is the investigation that led to the dismissal of a number of people and the resignation of others was instigated by the person who was being wronged and not by HMRC.

So my point all along still is that HMRC do not know if there are any other people doing the same thing out there and as such no one can say either way that it is or is not happening.

We put all our faith in a system that is run by people that we expect to be true to their ethics however as has been proved, some are not.

This is a big issue to me personally, peoples lives being messed about with because somebody does not like the ethnic background you come from. They have the ability and the will to make changes to your circumstance un checked and unless your very on the ball will get away with it.

HMRC has to start to address the confidence issues associated with its services as they provide one of the most important jobs in this country.

[feral chile]

I think that for a lot of people who have had dealings, that word 'retain' might be a trifle optimistic!

[llcoolphil]

Yes, regain might be a better word. It's vital that prople have confidence that HMRC are capable of collecting taxes and dealing with all the other aspects of their business efficiently and fairly. Public confidence and cooperation is essential to a well run taxation system.

[feral chile]

But nothing to say it couldn't be replicated in another office - it would be much harder for it to develop in a small office surely? More conspicuous.

And the bit about call centres - just no. I had one issue and was lied to repeatedly by people who didn't want to tell me I wasn't going to get my money back for months. I reckon in 25 phone calls, I was lied to 17 or 18 times. Ive only dealt with them once.

[llcoolphil]

You might not have been deliberately lied to. In fact, I'm pretty certain from my experience that you were given information that was considered correct at the time. The situation sometimes changes rapidly within HMRC, so a timescale given on one occasion might have changed by the next time you phone.

That's no defence or consolation, I know.

[feral chile]

I agree entirely. But equally, it must be soul destroying for staff knowing you are coming into work with a three month backlog and no extra staff to sort it and people just shouting at you on the phone (I never did!). This obsession governments have with 'efficiency savings' inevitably means 'more work for fewer people'.

[llcoolphil]

Yes, it's difficult times for HMRC staff at the moment. I'd like to think that most contact centre staff do their utmost to help, because whereas other staff might only see paperwork and lose sight of the people behind that paperwork, contact centre staff are all too aware that they're dealing with real life. As strudders said, there's a responsibility to get things right, and as quickly as possible, because what HMRC does has a real impact on people's lives.

[feral chile]

Abslolutely - though a potential flaw in the system is that disconnection between the people dealing with the paperwork and the people dealing with the people who provided the paperwork - the person I speak to to resolve a problem isn't actually the person who is going to resolve the problem.

[llcoolphil]

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. In the old days, apparently, staff were given individual cases, and they dealt with that person's tax affairs. What a lovely personalised service it must have been.

[feral chile]

As much as i despise what is going to happen under the coalition come October and as different as our motivations might be, their idea about decentralising services down to local communities (of varying sizes depending on the service) has huge merit. Sadly it needs funding to work and that's why it'll fail.

[oafc0000]

Going to be some big change with the tax system soon as the condems deliver their simplification of the tax system. Going to be interesting to see what comes out of it.