What's it like to work at HMRC?

What's it like to work at HMRC?

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Hello,

Does anyone here have any recent experience of working at HMRC?  I've yet to meet anyone who had an overall positive experience while working there, the common themes being feeling undervalued and finding the job dull. 

Despite this, I have always felt that I would enjoy working on 'the other side'. I can see they are looking for CT professionals at the moment, and while other people's past expriences are offputting, I don't believe many of those experiences are from the last few years. Perhaps things have changed?  Does anyone have recent experience of working there?

Cheers

Aid

Replies (31)

Comments for this post are now closed.

By cheekychappy
13th Sep 2016 09:41

It’s amazing.

They are so overstaffed, that most of the working day is spent drinking tea and thinking of silly ideas. Some even call it “The Idea Factory”.

When you actually do some work, you are aided by some of the most advanced and reliable IT systems in the world.

On occasion, you get to have a day out at a large corporation’s offices. There you will receive first class hospitality and all you have to do in return is waive millions of what is owed.

The only job that could beat it, is to be Chief Chest Inspector (CCI) at Victoria Secret.

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By SteveHa
13th Sep 2016 10:04

Back in the day (1982 - 2001) it was OK, though it had started to deteriorate by the time I left. I wouldn't go back now if they paid me double. Morale is so low as to be ground level, workload compared with staff levels is disproportionate and expertise has been eroded in favour of scripts.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
13th Sep 2016 09:57

Ground level ? Morale is subterranean if my recent visits are anything to go by!

I would never work for the Government anyway, on principle.

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By the_Poacher
13th Sep 2016 10:20

Training is okay and working conditions aren't bad although there's a long hours culture from grade 7 upwards and at least one senior leader blogged recently that she works 7am to 7pm, but many in the private sector have it worse. The pension is nowhere near as good as it was and will continue to get worse but it's better than nearly all private sector schemes. Pay progression went many years ago so your pay rarely moves from the bottom. Pay rises have not kept up with even CPI in recent years.

The IT is laughable and there's an enormous amount of bureaucracy because of the need to count everything. Everything is driven by cost cutting and generating 'yield' but not in a sensible way so an idea of say spending £1M to change something that would bring in £10M probably wouldn't get the go ahead. Finally there is incessant change driven by ministers who want to make their mark, enough said

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By Mark Johnson
13th Sep 2016 10:27

If you are happy to extract the maximum amount of tax possible from small traders and are prepared to lie and cheat to do it then you will go far.

If, however, you wish only to extract the amount legally owed by traders, then you will probably be demoted to the post room in the Shetlands.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
13th Sep 2016 10:56

A posting to Lerwick (even to the post room) would be great, I can think of far worse places to be posted. (e.g. London, for one)

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Replying to DJKL:
RLI
By lionofludesch
13th Sep 2016 11:04

Suits me. Though living on an island can be expensive.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By Mr_awol
13th Sep 2016 11:06

Lerwick is great if you like drunks, smack heads, Viking festivals, or roaming through Harry's department story to see what random crap is in the next aisle.

75% of London beats it hands down. The other 25% of places I just don't go to.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
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By Echo761
16th Sep 2016 10:36

From recent experience this is spot on! - not the parts about the islands etc etc , but about the attitude and squeezing poor defenceless small businesses.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
13th Sep 2016 11:11

I have been to the large tax office at Longbenton in Newcastle (apperently employs more people than the pentagon) on 2 occasions.

The building probably cost millions but it looks an awful place to work. It is all open plan on massive floors with big light wells in middle forming wings like they have in prisons.

They were installing catch nets between landings to try and reduce the amount of people throwing themselves off when I was there.

Everyone works in tiny cubicles like you see in american TV shows and they are crammed in. Because there is so many people there is a constant buzz of noise.

It looks a good awful place to work from what I could see.

Judging by my dealings with them and the amount time the staff seem to spend off with stress related illness I suspect its not ideal to work.

Most staff you see or speak to seem to be very run down with very few good words of the place.

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Worm
By TheLambtonWorm
13th Sep 2016 14:53

Whenever I speak to people who work there, they only have moans and groans.

I do think however, that these same people have worked for HMRC all their working lives and never actually seen anything different.

I think they had it good for so many years in terms of being able to do nowt all day, but since the cutbacks started in around 2004, they have been slowly phased into doing as much work as people in the private sector.

I've also been to Longbenton, and whilst it certainly does have the building characteristics of a prison as Glennzy says - Despite the amount of people, I personally thought it looked a decent place to work.

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By ruth.julian
13th Sep 2016 17:39

You will find the bureaucracy and recording stultifying, initiative is no longer valued, it takes over a week to send a letter and longer to receive incoming mail. Email exchanges are restricted to the larger taxpayers. Many of the (mostly ex IR) working practices have yet to be rationalised and the internal taxpayer records are no where near being joined up. A lot of the re-organisation over the last 5 years has ended up being the shoe-horning of staff into tax specialisms in which they are not trained in a bid to move the work not the people. Add to that the closure of so many local offices so staff have to travel further to work. No wonder there is so much discontent and stress among the staff.

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Tornado
By Tornado
13th Sep 2016 20:30

I wonder if the idea is that Making Tax Difficult, er I mean digital, will free more staff up from mundane duties or perhaps no duties at all ....

HMRC staff need to consider the seismic changes that the MTD proposals might bring to their jobs, and the possibility that the number of people working in HMRC might reduce significantly as a result.

Some more thoughts from HMRC staff would be interesting, indeed, what do they think about the MTD proposals.

I must add that I do not actually think the MTD will ever see the light of day in the present proposed format, so at this stage I think most HMRC jobs are safe for the foreseeable future, but that is only my opinion.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
14th Sep 2016 13:04

I recently saw a job advert for an in house lawyer for HMRC to be London based and role was to deal with challenging tax schemes etc. If I remember correctly the salary was for about £60k per annum, as a lawyer that is probably not a good salary in Newcastle I would imagine is terrible for working in capital.

When you see that Googles tax lawyer charges £30k per day its clear to see why they walk all over them. If your the HMRC lawyer getting batted everyday its clear to see why they have zero morale.

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By petestar1969
14th Sep 2016 14:49

Never worked there myself.

Had an interesting chat with a Senior VAT Inspector recently.

She has been in the job over 30 years (only job she has ever had). Her current salary? £29,000 a year...yes only £29,000.

In the previous 12 months she recovered £4.5million of VAT from her visits and got a bonus of, wait for it, £504.

They want to relocate her from Southend (where she lives) to Canary Wharf. She told me she would quit instead.

No wonder their morale is so low......

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By aidious
15th Sep 2016 10:47

So in summary - you all think I should get my application in ASAP?

Thanks for all the comments. Sadly, they do appear to confirm my fears about working there. I guess every workplace has its issues and low morale is not uncommon in practice or industry, but it does seem HMRC’s is particularly toxic.

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By Eddie S
15th Sep 2016 19:12

How sad to read all those comments.
It was actually a happy place to work from 1965 to 1973 in 'proper' tax districts!!

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By Mark Johnson
15th Sep 2016 22:22

I find the use of the term "work" in the same sentence as "HMRC" rather a novel idea.

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By Mark Johnson
15th Sep 2016 22:22

I find the use of the term "work" in the same sentence as "HMRC" rather a novel idea.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
By Ruddles
15th Sep 2016 22:35

You still here? Soon get that sorted.

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Replying to Ruddles:
By cheekychappy
15th Sep 2016 22:43

Ruddles wrote:

You still here? Soon get that sorted.

I had my suspicions.

John, if I call, will you answer the door this time?

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By Mark Johnson
16th Sep 2016 00:08

I'm not sure who Ruddles & cheekychappie think I am, or why they are apparently making some kind of peurile threats, but I do find it rather objectionable, and somewhat concerning, when a stranger threatens to knock at my door for unspecified purposes.

I would be very interested to know how this person claims to know my address, and indeed if it is in fact my address.

As regards Ruddles more obvious threats, your constant posting of inflammatory comments since I joined this site do constitute a blatant breach of the sites terms.

Finally, the fact that both of these individuals posted so late at night, at 22.35 and at 22.43, shows their obsessive nature, and by posting so close together, clearly indicates that they one and the same internet troll using multiple accounts.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
By Ruddles
16th Sep 2016 07:49

Finally, the content of your post clearly indicates that 'Mark' and the multitude of previous aliases belong to the same permanently banned member. As for your accusation of multiple accounts (coming from you, that's rich) - did it never enter your tiny mind that more than one person may be keen to see the back of you forever?

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Replying to Ruddles:
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By Mark Johnson
16th Sep 2016 08:14

Ruddles wrote:

Finally, the content of your post clearly indicates that 'Mark' and the multitude of previous aliases belong to the same permanently banned member. As for your accusation of multiple accounts (coming from you, that's rich) - did it never enter your tiny mind that more than one person may be keen to see the back of you forever?

Whenever you look into a mirror you see an internet troll looking back. Clearly your obnoxious and offensive attitude stems from the fact that you have never achieved anything worthwhile in your meaningless life. Certainly having now read many of your responses to questions you have a serious attitude problem, what used to be called "big headed". Your advice certainly should carry a financial health warning as much of it is ill considered and erroneous.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
By Ruddles
16th Sep 2016 09:20

I know how much you love an argument, so I'm not going to give you one. You will need to content yourself with dreaming up your next username.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
By cheekychappy
16th Sep 2016 08:07

John, are you available on 17th October? I would love to chat.

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Replying to cheekychappy:
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By Mark Johnson
16th Sep 2016 09:15

cheekychappy wrote:

John, are you available on 17th October? I would love to chat.

You might find a "chat" rather difficult, unless of course you claim to know my address, in which case very serious questions will be raised regarding the hacking of AWEB's records.

The fact you don't even know my name rather suggests that you are full of sh*t.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
By cheekychappy
16th Sep 2016 09:26

Wave goodbye to everyone, John.
https://postimg.org/image/5mxu1klgx/

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Replying to cheekychappy:
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By Mark Johnson
16th Sep 2016 09:52

cheekychappy wrote:

Wave goodbye to everyone, John.
https://postimg.org/image/5mxu1klgx/

Really?
Now, the unauthorised use of an image for the purposes of threatening or causing fear or distress is a criminal offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Whether you have the right image is immaterial, your intention is obvious.

Perhaps your proposed meeting should take place, where and when did you have in mind? I do hope you won't mind me inviting a solicitor and my police officer son in law as they would like a "chat" with you, and your ladyboy friend Ruddles.

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Replying to Mark Johnson:
By cheekychappy
16th Sep 2016 09:56

Mark Johnson wrote:

cheekychappy wrote:

Wave goodbye to everyone, John.
https://postimg.org/image/5mxu1klgx/

Really?
Now, the unauthorised use of an image for the purposes of threatening or causing fear or distress is a criminal offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Whether you have the right image is immaterial, your intention is obvious.

Perhaps your proposed meeting should take place, where and when did you have in mind? I do hope you won't mind me inviting a solicitor and my police officer son in law as they would like a "chat" with you, and your ladyboy friend Ruddles.

Not at all John. You are free to bring whoever you want.

I've already told you when I have in mind and I'm happy to call at your residential address in Coventry again.

I suspect, however, that you will not answer your door again.

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Tom Herbert
By Tom Herbert
16th Sep 2016 11:15

Thread gone off topic, closed.

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