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One of the UK's biggest unions has attacked HMRC for planning to close a further 95 offices — despite the department insisting that it is simply running a consultation on its 'accommodation requirements'.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claimed that up to 12,300 Revenue workers would be affected by proposed closures, and it went on to warn that 'the ability of the department to collect revenues and provide tax advice to the public and local businesses would be further undermined'.
However, HMRC said it has only begun the latest part of its Regional Review Programme, which aims to 'deliver value for money to the taxpayer'.
In February, the Revenue announced that 35 offices would be closed in cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff, Swansea, Edinburgh and Glasgow, following a review of operations.
The department added that the current process — which will involve employees, trade unions and other stakeholders and will take place across England, Wales and Northern Ireland — is 'to determine which buildings the department will occupy in a number of "cluster" and "individual" locations'.
The HMRC director responsible for the programme, Mary Hay, commented: 'This is the next stage in our consultation process. No final decisions have been made.
'By consolidating work in fewer locations, HMRC will be able to work more efficiently and so improve customer service as well as providing better value for money.'
Nevertheless, the PCS, which has more than 300,000 members, criticised 'a crude drive to slash jobs and cut costs which will leave HMRC unable to deliver quality public services' and calculated that 95 Revenue locations could be shut down.
The union added: 'Our fear is that the consultations are very much predetermined especially when you put it in the context of the department's targets on job cuts and previous announcements on office closures'.
The news follows the Government's insistence earlier this week that it will go ahead with a programme of redundancies with the Revenue, effectively dismissing Taxation's online petition against the further staff cuts.
