PCS protest against tax office closures

Public and Commercial Services union representatives will demonstrate outside HM Revenue and Customs’ Whitehall headquarters tomorrow (14 January) ahead of a decision on tax office closures.

The demonstration outside 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ, at 9am on Tuesday will coincide with a meeting by senior HMRC executives to decide the fate of the UK’s 281 face to face tax enquiry offices.

If the offices close, more than 2.5 million pensioners, vulnerable workers and tax credit claimants will lose a vital service, and the jobs of 1,300 low paid, skilled workers will be at risk.

HMRC said last year it plans to shut all the walk-in tax advice offices and it ran a ‘pilot’ closure programme closing 13 offices in the north east.

In its response to a public consultation the department acknowledged: “A high proportion of respondents said that HMRC should look to retain its enquiry centre network, but strengthen it with elements of the new service.”

The PCS criticised the consultation as “deeply flawed” at the time and maintains that closing all 281 offices would cost more than it will save.

From a PCS press release