Thousands of job cuts at HMRC
Thursday, 16 Nov 2006 12:16
Jobs under threat as HMRC seeks to make savings
Some 12,500 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) staff could lose their jobs after the government department announced a major cost-cutting package.
A number of buildings used by the department are also set to be taken out of use, as chiefs look to save £30 million by April 2008.
The HMRC was formed in April last year after a merger between the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise and moves to reduce costs and improve efficiency have been undertaken since.
A "series of consultations on the future shape and direction of the department in outer London" will begin in December this year, a HMRC statement read.
But the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has condemned the cuts, saying that it will mean the current backlog of more than a million items of post in the department will only get worse.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary said: "It is foolhardy in the extreme to think that cutting more jobs and closing more offices will improve service levels in HMRC.
"With a backlog of one million items of post already stacking up as the department slash 12,500 jobs, further cuts will damage service levels and undermine the ability of the exchequer to collect revenue, leaving HMRC unfit for purpose."
He added: "Time is running out for the government, who need to wake up to the fact that cuts mean deteriorating service levels and who need to realise that decent public services need people to deliver them."
But Paul Gray, the acting chairman of the HMRC, defending the decision to cut the budget.
"Today's announcement sets out the modernisation and transformation that HMRC wants to undertake over the next five years to put our taxpayers, claimants and other customers at the heart of everything we do, thereby improving efficiency and effectiveness," he said.
"The creation of HMRC, where Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue were integrated, means the new organisation now has more space than it needs. We are taking the opportunity to save taxpayers' money by operating with fewer buildings in a more coordinated cost efficient way."
He added that the department has invited all staff to comment on the proposals and to "fully participate in our programme of change."