Guest Editorial

Guest editorial contribution by Mark Serwotka, head of the Public and Commercial Services Union

Why We Are Taking Industrial Action on 31 January

As many taxpayers already know, 31 January is an important date in the tax calendar. Filing your online return can be stressful. But please spare a thought for the advisers who staff HM Revenue and Customs' telephone lines and enquiry centres.

They want to do a good job to help you. But as there are fewer of them working in fewer offices as a result of HMRC's misguided and damaging cuts programme, they're under increasing pressure. Already facing more enquiry office closures – announced just this week – to pave the way for 10,000 more job cuts by 2015, our members are also very concerned about creeping privatisation.

From next month two companies, Sitel and Teleperformance, are due to run year-long call handling trials in Lillyhall, Cumbria, and Bathgate in Scotland.

The 31 January strike is in opposition to these trials, which are unnecessary and set a dangerous precedent.

One year is plenty of time for the companies to get comfortable. One has been advertising posts as 'permanent' – and for several thousand pounds less than their civil service colleagues earn. Recent history is littered with examples of taxpayers' money being wasted on outsourcing to companies who sacrifice good service for profit.

If HMRC wants to trial new ways of working, the skills and scope exist in-house. Instead of making cuts and letting in the private sector, HMRC should invest in its staff and the vital services they provide for all of us.

We could then seriously tackle the tens of billions of pounds in tax that goes uncollected every year – largely not from the ordinary taxpayer, but from a minority of very wealthy individuals and organisations that avoid or evade paying their dues.

So if you are filing your return next Tuesday and can't get the help you need, please don't blame the staff who have taken the difficult decision to strike. They are trying to protect a high quality service for the tax years to come.