HMRC staff are being given the equivalent of one day off a week to 'promote gender ideology' as waiting times for people trying to fill in their tax forms reach record levels.
According to the Telegraph, a job advertised internally within HMRC for a new deputy chair of the LGBT+ workforce network will indicate that the successful applicant will be able to spend 20 percent of their working week supporting the group's activities.
It is understood the scheme, which does not affect pay, applies to three employees at HMRC who lead the department's Prism LGBT+ Network.
The job posting describes the Prism LGBT+ Network as a group that supports all members of the LGBT+ community, especially colleagues who are gay, lesbian, trans, non-binary and “allies.”
The Telegraph writes that the job specification states that the applicant's current role is 'not as important as your experience and drive to promote fairness'. It adds that the role will involve 20 percent of their time to be “dedicated to networking activities.”
Furthermore, the successful candidate will be expected to submit reports to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team and promote HMRC as an inclusive employer.
It is also claimed that members of the group have led presentations, many of which focus on the issue of trans rights, with one insider telling the Telegraph that the network is “essentially just in-house trans activists” and that “the majority of their work is about promoting gender ideology'.
Staff would also have been encouraged to share their preferred pronouns to show support for trans colleagues and introduced to the concept of gender-neutral pronouns.
HMRC staff get the equivalent of one day off a week as call times reach record levels (stock image)
The tax authorities recently came under criticism following a report by the Public Accounts Committee
HMRC told the newspaper that it is legally required to take into account the needs of people with characteristics protected in equality legislation.
It comes after the taxman has faced criticism over its customer service as call waiting times reach record levels.
A report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) shows that the average wait time for calls in 2023/2024 will be more than 23 minutes, compared to 16 minutes and 24 seconds in 2022/2023.
The report also shows that HMRC only responded to 66.3 per cent of customer attempts to speak to an adviser, falling short of the 85 per cent target. The company last met its annual target for telephone services in 2017/2018.
Increased demand for HMRC services, resulting from more people paying tax due to tax barriers, has been a key driver. The tax authorities say they do not have sufficient resources to meet the telephone demand.
MPs have accused HMRC of deliberately degrading its own phone services, 'preparing them to fail in the hope that people will be forced to go online'.
The report warns that public confidence in the tax system has been damaged as 44,000 calls were dropped to customers who had waited 70 minutes without explanation.
HMRC has pushed to bring most of its services online as part of its Making Tax Digital programme, claiming that 66 per cent of the 37 million calls it received last year could have been made online.
The report shows that the average call waiting time in 2023/2024 will be more than 23 minutes, compared to 16 minutes and 24 seconds in 2022/2023 (stock image)
In 2023/24, HMRC received 22 million pieces of mail, forms and interactive forms, 70 percent of which had to be scanned or entered manually (stock image)
However, MPs say that given the problems taxpayers have faced with their telephone services, 'we have doubts whether HMRC's digital services are as good as HMRC claims'.
PAC also said the tax authorities had been too quick to restrict access to its telephone services before the replacement digital services were fully in place.
HMRC told the PAC inquiry it did not have enough resources to deal with more taxpayers, thanks to frozen thresholds encouraging more people to pay tax.
While telephone services have declined, HMRC has improved in other areas. In 2023/2024, HMRC received 22 million pieces of mail, forms and interactive forms, 70 percent of which had to be scanned or entered manually.
In 2021/2022 HMRC dealt with just 45.5 per cent within the 15 working day target, but this improved to 76.3 per cent in 2023/24. However, the 80 percent target is still not being achieved
