Just weeks after the Revenue were scrutinised for their blunder over millions of incorrect PAYE bills they are under fresh pressure as MP’s launch an inquiry into HMRC’s effectiveness. This comes just days after they were warned to prepare for imminent job cuts.
The inquiry will be carried out by a new Treasury sub-committee and will focus on how HMRC is doing its job, whether it can improve and how it’s going to cope in the future. The inquiry’s goal is to also build on the findings of a previous investigation, published earlier this year, which suggested that morale within HMRC had hit rock bottom. The lack of morale was impacting upon government plans to tackle aggressive tax avoidance.
The committee on that particular inquiry concluded that HMRC staff were the most depressed of all Whitehall workers. This was followed by a ‘major tax blunder’ in which 4.3 million people had paid too much tax through the PAYE system while another 1.4 Million had not paid enough and owed an average of £1.380. No wonder morale is so low.
It was announced last week that 13,000 jobs at HMRC would disappear as a result of a 25% spending cut over four years detailed in the spending review. By April 2015 the current HMRC staff of 69,000 will have been greatly reduced.
The Treasury sub-committee also wants to focus on the department’s performance and whether it is achieving its key goals including combating tax evasion and whether the PAYE system reforms are necessary. It is also seeking to reorganise its priorities for the future.
