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HMRC chairman Paul Gray has resigned following an announcement that two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing.

The Child Benefit data on the missing discs includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25m people.

In an emergency statement to MPs, Chancellor Alistair Darling apologised for what he described as an "extremely serious failure on the part of HMRC to protect sensitive personal data entrusted to it in breach of its own guidelines". Mr Darling said there was no evidence the data had gone to criminals - but urged people to monitor bank accounts "for unusual activity".

The Chancellor blamed mistakes by junior officials at HMRC, who he said had ignored security procedures when they sent information to the National Audit Office (NAO) for auditing. The discs were sent by HMRC's internal post system operated by the courier TNT. The package was not recorded or registered and it failed to be delivered to the addressee in the NAO. This is the latest and by far the most serious of a string of missing data incidents at HMRC.

Mr Darling said that victims of fraud as a result of this incident would be protected under the Banking Code and will not suffer any financial loss as a result.

The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the disappearance of the two discs and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which monitors HMRC, is investigating the security breach.

A letter of apology to those customers whose details were contained within the missing data has been posted on the HMRC website. In the letter Dave Hartnett, Director-General (Business), says he believes that the copy of the data is likely to still be on Government property.

HMRC have set up a Child Benefit Helpline on 0845 302 1444 for customers who want more details.

Link

HMRC: Child Benefit customer update