HMRC's (ironic) use of consultants

There are loads of consultants working on projects at HMRC

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An IT consultant friend is currently posted at HMRC and tells me that the offices are full of consultants.

I find this somewhat ironic given they are changing the picture for consultants making it less desirable.  She is now going permanent elsewhere (admittedly due to job security and not due to the tax changes).  She says a lot of the consultants are leaving. 

She is working on the government gateway dual verification system.  I assume MTD will mean even more consultants (if HMRC can find them!) otherwise HM Treasury will have to bear the costs of employing people like everyone in the private sector.

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By WhichTyler
09th Dec 2016 10:37

Govt depts don't like putting 'project' staff on permanent contracts because civil service terms around pension and termination make them very expensive to get rid of at the end of the project

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RLI
By lionofludesch
09th Dec 2016 11:07

Snouts in the trough.

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Tornado
By Tornado
09th Dec 2016 13:35

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

How many consultants do HMRC actually need ?

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
09th Dec 2016 14:05

We have had clients at HMRC, and they are only allowed to stay on 12 months usually.

Which means no-one has ever "done it before" when it comes to things like updating the back end of CT600 software for the annual updates.

Explains quite a lot quite frankly.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
RLI
By lionofludesch
09th Dec 2016 14:14

ireallyshouldknowthisbut wrote:

We have had clients at HMRC, and they are only allowed to stay on 12 months usually.

I wish I could only stay for 12 months.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
09th Dec 2016 14:22

Government are worst offenders for the "gig economy"

I had a flurry of Doctors (for me anyway, 3 in same week) whose contracts with NHS had ended and they were offered either a zero hour contract or to work via an agency through a limited company.

If I had spent 10 years training and working 70 hours per week and offered that sort of deal I would be off to Dubai to ply my trade.

I am also still listed for non exec roles with an agency and regularly see roles with HMRC and NHS in finance "must work through own Limited Co" £500 per day.

It would seem the NHS is been cleansed of staff with horrible things like pensions and holidays to make it more appealing to Virgin and Bupa who are rapidly buying up contracts.

To the public the Government say they are keen to stop this form of shadow employment, however in reality all the big companies heavily use it, its seems a blind eye is turned to actually stamping it out, instead the focus is on the end user been rinsed so that they have no breaks for the loss of holiday, sick pay and pensions that those lucky enough to be employed enjoy.

I suspect most people hired in this way would love to be fully employed but that option is not available.

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Replying to Glennzy:
RLI
By lionofludesch
09th Dec 2016 14:45

Glennzy wrote:

Government are worst offenders for the "gig economy"

I had a flurry of Doctors (for me anyway, 3 in same week) whose contracts with NHS had ended and they were offered either a zero hour contract or to work via an agency through a limited company.

I took my mum to the doctor's last week and the doctor told me that a full time doctor counts as 1.6 doctors in NHS GP stats.

Which is a good way of showing that the shortage of doctors isn't as bad as one might think.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
Worm
By TheLambtonWorm
09th Dec 2016 16:34

My wife told me I was 0.5 of a man last night.

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