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If HMRC was a private company it would be called Carillion...
Then at least it could legitimately say it had (past tense) 'customers'
Government IT projects are a wonderful cash cow to large "land and expand" consultancies. Government staff have an inbuilt tendency to not want to commit to clear measurable system requirements, for fear of failure and being made accountable. And even if they get it wrong, they have jobs for life anyhow. So we end up with vague, hand wavy requirements that are a dream to large consultancies, who continue to charge for system changes when inevitably requirements are not met.
Reminds me of that episode of Yes Minister where a rogue fellow suggests they actually set targets for what success would look like - much to the distaste of Humpy et al.
I wonder how much of the increased cost relates to trying to recruit people to work on the project, people who have been mistreated by HMRC. Key in this are IT contractors who are suffering what Meg Hillier in PAC said was a need for HMRC to chase revenue at the expense of fairness.
It continues to amaze me how Mel Stride MP can satnd up and say "we don't use retrospection" (In Parliament last week) when the bill being debated rioght now, does exactly that.
If we have the MPs saying one thing and HMRC another, is it any wonder that the reputation of both is going south?
Telephony has gone down 8%.
mmmm let me see. Ah yes. It takes half an hour (that's if anyone answers) to get someone who hasn't got a clue and will e-mail your query to the relevant tax office. Maybe that's why people don't bother phoning anymore.
Now if you provide less of a service there can only be one complaint and that is your providing less of a service. All makes sense to me.
January sick and tired etc. etc. and on the "b" side Never give up.
Not often I defend HMRC but they should firmly tell MP's to stop making silly changes to the tax system every 5 minutes then.