Best of British to the HMRC Surge Team

Reading HMRC’s advert for enthusiastic team players to join its Surge and Rapid Response Team, my response is to wish them a sincere Best of British. 

When I started this blog, I warned myself that my experience of HMRC was time-limited and would soon become outdated. Even so, I can only hope their enthusiasm is rewarded. When I joined HM Customs and Excise as a Band 1 (50% of an Admin Assistant) my goals and targets were easy: make it to the first week, make it to the first month, follow the rules, do what you were told and get past my probationary period. 

In my first month I witnessed a retirement speech in which a bearded old exciseman told everyone that the wheels were coming off the wagon and management didn’t have a clue. I watched it with indifference because (as I said) I was focussed on following the rules and doing what I was told. I never dreamed that one day I’d be taking the same jaundiced view – or even that I’d give a damn.

Looking back at the internal structure of Customs and Excise for the recent posts on old TV shows, I was reminded of how much change there had been, and how that change seemed to be repeated within HMRC and the Border Force. 

Looking back to the HM Customs and Excise union magazine, C&E Journal,  in 2004, the year before the creation of HMRC  it’s interesting to read Dominic McFadden’s thoughts on the recent history of the department:

In the mid-1990’s, he tells us, the Conservative government launched Fundamental Expenditure Reviews aimed at cutting jobs across the civil service. It was claimed that hundreds of jobs lost from HMCE would have no effect on revenue or prevention of smuggling. 

“Although we would have fewer fixed staff, we would all be working smarter, led by intelligence and focusing our efforts where they would be most effective. These are exactly the same arguments being advanced by the (2004) Labour government…(who) claim that they can cut civil servants without affecting services.”

The FER cuts included 140 staff controlling excise goods. “The changes made the trader responsible for the duty and changed from physical controls and presence to one based on audit. The argument was that excise officers were not cost effective because they were not finding any excise fraud….that excise staff were not finding fraud was true, the reason being that through their physical controls and physical presence they were preventing it.”

The FER cuts followed the lowering of fiscal barriers when the EU single market came into effect in 1993. The requirement to present documentation to HMRC when exporting goods across internal EU borders was dropped. “These changes coupled with staff cuts at bonded warehouse made an increase in excise fraud almost inevitable.”

FER resulted in the merger of Collection Intelligence Units and the Investigation Division to form the National Investigation Service while intelligence was reorganised into the National Intelligence Division. At the same time ‘delayering’ reduced the number of Deputy Chief Investigation Officers from five to two. “Teams were also increased in size as the numbers of ‘middle managers’ were cut. The IT tools to manage cases, which had been planned, were also cut, and the money diverted to set up the fledgling NID. The Solicitors Office was not immune from the FER cuts either. At this time they had to reduce the number of solicitors and paralegals by 40%. This took away from investigation teams regular access to legal advice at precisely the time that casework was increasing in terms of both quantity and complexity…A solicitor actually attending court was now something of a luxury so non-legally trained case officers stood in instead.”

“It did not take the fraudsters long to recognise the gaping holes in the control of excise goods.”

Dominic McFadden C&E Journal 2004. 

I was also reminded of the comments of a departing Higher Officer on the Law Enforcement side,  lamenting a change in HMCE management culture, “towards an insidious, nepotistic and cowardly approach wherein certain people, often with very little operational pedigree, are looked after and promoted on the basis of a nod and a wink from senior management in return for their adherence to the management line. When it comes to promotion, it seems a three-week stint on a pointless project that goes nowhere is worth more than many years of successful front-line work. Over the years I have worked with many excellent managers at all grades…however they have been either too few or too lacking in influence to have been able to counteract the negative effects outlined above.”

The writer ended by hoping that things would change under the new management of HMRC.

20 years on,  we’ve seen more cutting of head counts under justification of “working smarter” with new technology. We’ve seen post-Brexit movement of staff backwards and forwards as Government fails to make up its mind. We’ve seen enthusiasm quickly drained out of new recruits.  With a Government Minister now chairing HMRC, lets hope the new Government has the perception to abandon the failed policies of its predecessors. And as for the new recruits to the Surge Teams: keep your head down, follow the rules and do what you’re told.