They acted in huge numbers because they know that they are being treated unfairly. Our salaries included the pensions package. So cutting pensions is just the same as cutting wages. Everyone has to take a share of the pain in these economic circumstances, but the public sector should not take a disproportionate burden for economic messes others created.
ARC’s campaign to defeat the deficit showed shows that investing in HMRC brings in more funding from those who are evading or avoiding. The Government has not increased its investment, but imposes a tax on public servants instead.
The Government keeps repeating it is negotiating. It has not done so, whether changing from RPI to CPI, or imposing “contribution increases” that are really a tax on public workers.  And on top of a 2 or 3 year pay freeze we now face two more years of 1% at best, with no automatic pay progression. Hardly the way to motivate and reward people Francis Maude praises as loyal and dedicated public servants.

Photos

Nottingham

Bristol

Peterborough

Dorset House, London

Newcastle

Belfast

Harrow

Tweets

ARC President Graham Black said: “This shows again why cutting jobs in HMRC is a huge own-goal. It is great to see that the work of dedicated tax professionals has led to a reduction in the tax gap, but the reality is that things will get worse as further cuts hit. The Government suggests that it is ‘investing’ in HMRC to deal with evasion – but this is typical spin. In reality HMRC is being cut by 15%, and the ‘extra’ resources are simply being re-deployed from other work. And senior tax professionals – those who can deal with the well-advised wealthy or the major multi-nationals – are reducing in number over the next few years.

“When the country desperately needs money, to ease the pain of the deficit reduction programme and to invest in growth, why is the Government letting big business and the wealthy off the hook? This really is a missed opportunity. Hitting evasion by small business must be right, but the big money lies elsewhere. ARC has shown that investing in professional tax staff could generate £6bn – money from those who can afford it, and who are happy to let the rest of society pay for their greed.”

Notes for editors

1. The Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) is a union representing senior staff in HM Revenue and Customs, including tax inspectors, accountants, lawyers, managers and other leading professionals. ARC represents around 2,600 members in HMRC at grade 7 and above, and also trainees in grade 7 entry schemes. It is also a section of the FDA.

2. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 19,000 of the UK’s senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

3. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as “The FDA” and can be described as “the senior public servants’ union”.

4. ARC published a report Being Bold – a Radical Approach to Raising Revenue and Defeating the Deficit in September 2010. It led the way in urging the Government to increase the number of tax professionals in HMRC to tackle tax cheats and raise funds for the Exchequer. Despite pledges for additional reinvestment (£917m), regrettably, the Government announced a month later that HMRC resources would be cut by 15% over the next four years. This adds up to ten years of successive cuts.

5. ARC members are senior HMRC professionals engaged in work that brings in the majority of the £12bn tax gap closure delivered by HMRC last year. This work is incredibly cost effective. An ARC member earning £50k can expect to generate additional yield of at least £1.5m each year; a return of 30 times their cost. For every £1 of yield the Exchequer benefits by an additional £1 through the deterrent effect of this work both on the subject of the compliance intervention and on those who might be tempted to cheat on their taxes. The recent public outrage over tax avoidance and evasion demonstrates that people want a tax system that is fair to all. This can only be achieved if HMRC has sufficient resources to tackle tax avoidance and evasion across all sectors.

6. Graham Black, ARC President, is available for comment.

7. For further information contact:

Graham Black, ARC President, tel: 020 7401 5559 or 07766 497976.

Alexander’s exact words to the conference in fact referred to “HMRC staff” rather than tax inspectors, so maybe he’s off the hook on that one, and in fact that whole part of his speech is specifically trailed as a progress report on last year’s announcement. So if we have any issue with what Danny Alexander actually said, perhaps it should just be with the misleading impression the 2250 posts will go to people newly-recruited into HMRC, and that 1000 jobs are presently being advertised.

As we know, the 2250 posts will be going to staff HMRC would otherwise have been seeking to make redundant; and although there are 1000 jobs being advertised this month, they are not being advertised externally, only across the Civil Service in line with new recruitment rules, and in the main with a requirement for HMRC experience which will in effect exclude potential candidates from other government departments. So any jobseekers flocking to their local Jobcentre on the back of Danny Alexander’s speech will inevitably be disappointed.

So how did the media manage to distort some fairly plain facts? From the Guardian through The Independent to The Daily Mail and The Telegraph; and the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 websites, all of them had the same take on the Danny Alexander speech [credit to The Guardian though for seeing through it, that same day].

The thrust of his speech was mentioned in an exclusive interview with Danny Alexander which appeared in The Independent on Sunday, and reference to “2250 tax inspectors” appeared on the BBC’s website on Sunday morning before he had even spoken, all of which points to a press release containing something subtly different from the text of what Mr Alexander was due to say that afternoon. Try searching for it on the Lib Dems’ website though. You may find it to be somewhat elusive.

Which all goes to show, I think, that the Coalition is being served by media advisors who are every bit as clever as Alastair Campbell.

Steve MacFarlane

ARC Committee

Gareth Hills, ARC’s Defeat the Deficit Campaign Manager adds:

Steve is absolutely right to say this is nothing more than a rehash of last year’s message. Other priorities means that ARC’s Defeat the Deficit Campaign is currently on the back burner, but this shows that our central message remains a valid one – and is one that seems to have gained a degree of political consensus with all parties understanding the need to crack down on avoidance and evasion, something we welcome.

Unfortunately, though, there is no similar consensus on a solution – one ARC has already provided in its budget submission calling for an investment into HMRC resource of just £260m to secure additional revenue of £6bn.

It’s time for the Government to reconsider that, and it’s certainly time for the Government to move from cheap political point scoring to serious politics – to move from the economics and politics of the playground to the economics and politics of sense, to solutions that the country, and the financial crisis, demand and deserve.

The report also mentions the evidence ARC gave to TSC on HMRC’s dreadful engagement and truly appalling staff survey results – see, for example, this at para 48,  ‘ARC told us “HMRC is going into a massive restructuring exercise with a relatively poor capability and a demoralised workforce that does not trust senior managers to deliver change”. They pointed out that the staff survey revealed that “61 per cent of staff have no confidence in the decisions made by HMRC’s senior managers” explaining that: “The figures suggest a likely frailty in staff willingness to support changes
without significant improvements in the way they are involved in the change process”’.

This shows that the union is speaking up for members in a way HMRC management is seemingly unwilling or incapable of. It shows that it’s ARC, not HMRC’s senior management, that truly understands, represents, fights the corner for – and makes the case for – senior HMRC professionals.

Graham Black, ARC President, said: “The Committee’s recognition that the cuts in HMRC are having a serious impact on delivery is one that we share. On the plus side, the report recognises the good work of HMRC professionals, for example in dealing with large businesses, in the face of severe cuts. We also welcome HMRC management’s commitment to improve service standards, though further cuts may undermine this.

“However, all this reinforces the message ARC has consistently put across: the cuts have gone too deep, and that more resources for HMRC would help defeat the deficit. Indeed, extra resources for HMRC would bring in more than the Government hopes to save by raiding the pensions of nurses, teachers and civil servants.”

ARC also still has grave concerns about the way in which HMRC is managed.

Black said: “While the Committee pointed to low morale and suggested HMRC leaders needed to change their approach, ARC is now in dispute with HMRC because of attempts by the department’s board members to worry and bully staff. This hardly suggests that HMRC is taking the Committee seriously, which is a serious error of judgement.”

Notes for editors

1. The Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) is a union representing senior staff in HM Revenue and Customs, including tax inspectors, accountants, lawyers, managers and other leading professionals. ARC represents around 2,600 members in HMRC at grade 7 and above, and also trainees in grade 7 entry schemes.  It is also a section of the FDA.

2. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 19,000 of the UK’s senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

3. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as “The FDA” and can be described as “the senior public servants’ union”.

4. ARC published a report Being Bold – a Radical Approach to Raising Revenue and Defeating the Deficit in September 2010. It led the way in urging the Government to increase the number of tax professionals in HMRC to tackle tax cheats and raise funds for the Exchequer. Despite pledges for additional reinvestment (£917m), regrettably, the Government announced a month later that HMRC resources would be cut by 15% over the next four years. This adds up to ten years of successive cuts.

5. ARC members are senior HMRC professionals engaged in work that brings in the majority of the £12bn tax gap closure delivered by HMRC last year. This work is incredibly cost effective. An ARC member earning £50k can expect to generate additional yield of at least £1.5m each year; a return of 30 times their cost. For every £1 of yield the Exchequer benefits by an additional £1 through the deterrent effect of this work both on the subject of the compliance intervention and on those who might be tempted to cheat on their taxes. The recent public outrage over tax avoidance and evasion demonstrates that people want a tax system that is fair to all.  This can only be achieved if HMRC has sufficient resources to tackle tax avoidance and evasion across all sectors.

6. Graham Black, ARC President, is available for comment.

7. For further information contact:

1. Graham Black, ARC President, tel: 020 7401 5559 or 07766 497976.
2. Debbie Stamper, ARC officer, tel: 020 7401 5555.
3. Graham Flew, ARC officer, tel: 020 7401 5555.

Jonathan Baume, FDA General Secretary, said:

“Any increase in pension contribution rates during a pay freeze and with the current relatively high inflation is completely unjustified. This is nothing more than a pay cut for civil servants as part of the Government’s deficit reduction programme. It will do nothing to secure long-term sustainable pensions.

“The FDA has made clear to the Government that we will continue – as will the majority of unions – to explore every avenue towards reaching a satisfactory agreement, both on contribution rates and on the issues raised by Lord Hutton in his report on future pension scheme arrangements. These negotiations will be complex and difficult.

“However, if we are not able to reach agreement then industrial action is possible, and the FDA is continuing to make active preparations in the event that a ballot on industrial action is required. It is likely that any such industrial action would need to be sustained and co-ordinated across the public sector, if it is to achieve a change of approach from the Government.”

Notes for editors

1. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 19,000 of the UK’s senior civil
and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

2. Members in HMRC are represented by the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC), a section of the FDA.

3. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as “The FDA” and can be described as “the senior public servants’ union”. 

4. For further information contact:
•   Jonathan Baume, FDA General Secretary, tel: 020 7401 5555 or 07976 951191.
•   Oliver Rowe, Communications Manager, tel: 020 7401 5588 or 07590 838696.

ARC President Graham Black told the select committee: “We are not tackling avoidance as much as we could do and there is a significant capacity to get more there… We’re actually cutting the staff looking at large businesses, multinationals and that’s where the very largest amount of avoidance takes place. That’s where we get the biggest bang for our buck – we get the most return from compliance activity when we’re looking at large businesses and multinational transactions. It seems very odd that when we’re reinvesting to get more money in… we are reducing resources in this area”.

Black also stated that the complexity of the tax regime means it is important for HMRC to be able to support and deal with local accountants, to help those trying to pay the right tax. He added: “We need more professional staff to do this, not less”.

These arguments have previously been made in the ARC Defeat the Deficit campaign, which stressed the need for investment in tax professionals to increase tax collection, rather than cuts being made to HMRC’s budget.

The select committee’s inquiry is looking at the implications of HMRC’s Comprehensive Spending Review settlement and whether the department is able to deliver the Government’s aims on tax compliance.

Watch Graham Black giving evidence at the following link: Treasury Select Committee – Administration and effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs: closing the tax gap

Jonathan Baume, FDA General Secretary, said: “The Chief Secretary’s comments effectively pre-determine the outcome of the negotiations currently underway between the public sector unions and the Government. This comes just days after Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, condemned unions for taking strike action before negotiations had concluded. The Government cannot have it both ways – either they are genuine about negotiations or they are not.

“This development appears to be another example of the hardliners at the Treasury driving the agenda and seemingly doing their best to provoke strike action. Earlier in the negotiations, a briefing document from the Treasury almost derailed the discussions, outlining the worst-case scenario for pension reform. Despite these difficulties, the majority of trade unions have continued to approach these negotiations with a genuine intent to reach agreement.

“The Treasury is simply fixed on raising their £2.8bn pensions’ levy, and seems to have no genuine interest in a long-term, sustainable agreement on the future of public sector pension provision.

“I am rapidly coming to the view that these negotiations are doomed to failure while the Treasury is in the driving seat, and it is increasingly inevitable that there will be widespread industrial action across the public sector, which would be likely to include the FDA. The public should know that the blame for this will lie squarely at the door of the Treasury.”

Notes for editors

1. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 18,000 of the UK’s senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

2. Members in HMRC are represented by the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC), a section of the FDA.

3. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as “The FDA” and can be described as “the senior public servants’ union”.

4. For further information contact:

Jonathan Baume, FDA General Secretary, tel: 020 7401 5555 or 07976 951191.

Oliver Rowe, Communications Manager, tel: 020 7401 5588 or 07590 838696.

ARC is the union representing senior HM Revenue and Customs staff.

In Autumn the Government announced, as part of its spending review that HMRC would be cut by more than £3bn, although some limited “re-investment” was said to be targeting fraud. Only now have detailed plans emerged, and these show further steep reductions in the senior grades – the grades that deal primarily with large business and the wealthy.

Graham Black, ARC President, said: “This is just as we feared. HMRC is reducing by a further 15% to around half the size it was a few years ago. And while some extra resources are being used, rightly, to target fraud, the number of senior staff capable of dealing with complex avoidance and evasion will tumble yet further, by over 400. “There is a huge tax gap, caused in part by well-advised businesses and individuals stepping aside from taking their share of the pain. Why should banks and major businesses be let off the hook, when most citizens in the UK pay their fair share in taxation? The country cannot afford this madness. The Government is acting like an unhinged Robin Hood – taking from the poor and giving to the rich”.

Notes for editors

1. The Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) is a union representing senior staff in HM Revenue and Customs, including tax inspectors, accountants, lawyers, managers and other leading professionals. ARC represents around 2,600 members in HMRC at grade 7 and above, and also trainees in grade 7 entry schemes. It is also a section of the FDA.

2. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 18,000 of the UK’s senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

3. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as “The FDA” and can be described as “the senior public servants’ union”.

4. ARC published a report Being Bold – a Radical Approach to Raising Revenue and Defeating the Deficit in September 2010. It led the way in urging the Government to increase the number of tax professionals in HMRC to tackle tax cheats and raise funds for the Exchequer. Despite pledges for additional reinvestment (£917m), regrettably, the Government announced a month later that HMRC resources would be cut by 15% over the next four years. This adds up to ten years of successive cuts.

5. ARC members are senior HMRC professionals engaged in work that brings in the majority of the £12bn tax gap closure delivered by HMRC last year. This work is incredibly cost effective. An ARC member earning £50k can expect to generate additional yield of at least £1.5m each year; a return of 30 times their cost. For every £1 of yield the Exchequer benefits by an additional £1 through the deterrent effect of this work both on the subject of the compliance intervention and on those who might be tempted to cheat on their taxes. The recent public outrage over tax avoidance and evasion demonstrates that people want a tax system that is fair to all. This can only be achieved if HMRC has sufficient resources to tackle tax avoidance and evasion across all sectors.

6. Graham Black, ARC President, is available for comment.

7. For further information contact: ·

Graham Black, ARC President, tel: 020 7401 5559 or 07766 497976. · Debbie Stamper, ARC officer, tel: 020 7401 5555. · Graham Flew, ARC officer, tel: 020 7401 5555.

Arcampaign2010@fda.org.uk

www.arc-union.org.uk/deficit

www.twitter.com/arc_union

I was delighted, and very proud, to witness the superb turnout from ARC at the TUC’s March for the Alternative in central London on 26th March. A great day for trade unionism, for solidarity, for collective action, and a great day for ARC.

To see an ARC contingent numbering around 50 – part of a larger FDA presence – turn up to march alongside 100s of thousands of like minded trade unionists and others against the ConDem’s spending cuts and in support of an alternative (and what better alternative than investing in HMRC professionals to cut the tax gap and not public services?), to see so many members willing to do something now, was just fantastic.

ARC members came from all parts of the UK – the North East, North West, South West, South East, Wales, Midlands.
They came from varied parts of HMRC’s businesses and professions. They came with their families, with their friends. They came to support ARC’s campaign. They wore ARC t-shirts. They carried the ARC banner. They waved ARC flags. They joined in chants against the cuts.
They were amazing.

I’d recommend you check out some more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahluv/sets/72157626234674841/
where you’ll see how great the ARC T-shirts, ARC banner and flags and FDA balloons looked, and how the use of ARC and FDA colours really made us noticeable even in such a massive march.

So thank you again to those ARC members who attended the march – and especially those who brought along their families. And thank you to each and every one of you who’s supported ARC’s campaign. Whether you have lobbied your MP or used a Defeat the Deficit coaster to put your coffee on, you have all played a huge part in the success of the campaign.

The campaign shows that when we pull together we can make – we have made – a difference. The campaign shows that the honourable and valuable trade union traditions of collectivism, of solidarity, of promoting social justice, and supporting the vulnerable remain as relevant as ever.

This campaign and the ARC turnout at the TUC march show that those traditions are alive and well in ARC.

But we need to remember that ARC’s campaign and the successful TUC march are just the start of what will be a long and difficult fight against the spending cuts.

I believe that to succeed ARC/FDA and all other public sector unions need to work together in developing a coordinated response and coordinated action – including industrial action. The main weapon we have is our collective strength and, if we are to succeed in fighting the injustice of these fast and deep cuts, if we are to succeed in fighting these unprecedented, unwarranted and unjustified attacks on the public sector, then we need to use it.