arcnews june july 2016 (83)

“ONCE I STARTED FLICKING THROUGH PAST COPIES OF ARCNEWS IT WAS ADDICTIVE” Vicky Johnson—2

“I STILL EXPECTED THAT IT WOULD BE AN EXTREMELY FORMAL AFFAIR, SIMILAR TO THE STATE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT”

“IF ENGLAND WANTS PEACE SEND KAISER BILL SIX OF THESE FORMS. HE WILL AT ONCE GO MAD, COMMIT SUICIDE...AND THE WAR WILL END AT ONCE..”

Richard Hall—8

All Our Yesterdays—17

arcnews ISSUE 83 | JUNE-JULY 2016

The loneliness of the longdistance president Vicky Johnson clocks in PLUS AGM SPECIAL ALL THE MOTIONS, SPEECHES AND NEWS FROM ARC’S 2016 AGM IN NOTTINGHAM

EDITORIAL

Editorial

VICKY JOHNSON

I

t’s been more than two months since our AGM in Nottingham and such a lot has changed I’m not entirely sure where I should start. This is my first guest editorial and so I’ve been researching earlier ones to see how or what I should write. This has delayed my attempts because once I started flicking through past copies of arcnews it was addictive, and I’ve relearnt some really interesting things.

Without doubt though, my two highlights are the February 2007 edition which has a picture of Jon Clarke after he shaved his head to raise money for Breakthrough, at the time of the picture he had raised £1,000 and the first edition I have, number 3, in which Iain Campbell wrote an article titled ‘R*****s abolished, long live g***s’ I’m struck by Iain’s article because we are, in this the biggest transformation yet undertaken by HMRC, moving to Regional Centres. In February 2006 we were clearly moving away from R*****s as a concept. I know that the Regional Centre is not the same as the old R*****s, but the article talks about the old group structure in Inland Revenue and it seems the pattern is repeating itself – groups to regions to groups to regions (well OK, with some other structures in between – hubs and spokes anyone)?

And while HMRC is undergoing this transformation we have had the EU referendum which appears to have split the country and the political parties in two. Who would have predicted the resignation of the Prime Minister and half the shadow cabinet – I certainly didn’t see the latter one coming! HMRC must consider whether or not it can now afford to lose the amount of expertise it has currently put in jeopardy as part of the transformation. We need to make sure that ARC is right in the middle of any discussions around whether new teams need forming to lead the work needed following the result.

In this edition of arcnews you will find a full report of our Conference in April, held outside of London for the first time, together with various pieces written following Conference. I hope you will enjoy it and I hope that, if you haven’t been to Conference before you will consider coming next year. Come and be part of the ARC family and set the direction.

As I type we have made some progress on the diversity and equality motions for Regional Centres. We have our first proper meeting arranged and we hope to see some of the available data. There is much work to be done in this space so over the summer I expect we will be very busy with this and other work for you, the members. Perhaps if we are lucky we might see some sun too!

Vicky Johnson ARC President

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arcnews

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FIRST

Photo Competition The winner of the new photo competition is new President Vicky Johnson with this “magic” entry.

As we’re coming into the summer season now, the competition will surely hot up, so if you can beat this get your entries into Will (arcnewseditor@gmail.com) by 15th August.

ARC’s new website is now live. Go to arcunion.org.uk and log in using your membership number and password.

If you haven’t been sent one or can’t find it, simply email registration@arcunion.org.uk with your name and membership number and we’ll send you a reminder.

arcunion.org.uk

arcnews

is published by the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) 8 Leake Street London SE1 7NN

Membership:

020 7401 5590 membership@fda.org.uk Editor:

www.arcunion.org.uk

Will Richardson arcnewseditor@gmail.com Mobile: 07973 895887

President:

Deputy Editors:

President’s Secretary:

Design & Production:

Vicky Johnson, 020 7401 5559 020 7401 5573

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The views expressed in arcnews are not necessarily the views of the editor or the union. arcnews is printed on environmentallyfriendly paper produced from sustainable forests and wrapped in biodegradable polywrap.

Please recycle after you have finished reading this magazine.

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JUNE-JULY 2016: ISSUE 83

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NEW COMMITTEE

Fahad Aktar FROM ADVICE ON INDIVIDUAL LEVELS REGARDING ANY ISSUES AT WORK TO ACTING AS A PLATFORM TO RAISE OUR CONCERNS COLLECTIVELY, I HAVE FELT THE PRESENCE OF THE UNION.

W

hile studying for an accountancy qualification, I developed an interest in the subject of taxation.

An application to HMRC for the Tax Specialist Programme quickly followed and before I knew it, I was based in Albert Bridge House in Manchester in Mid-Size Business.

I have always believed in the importance of the role played by an employee union. I believe that unions are a strong tool for keeping check and balance and are a way of extending democracy to

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the workplace. I joined ARC on the TSP induction event in September 2014, after a very convincing presentation by Amy Carr.

Eighteen months later, I am not only impressed by the quality of the TSP programme but also the helpful role ARC is playing for the betterment of the work force.

From advice on individual levels regarding any issues at work to acting as a platform to raise our concerns collectively, I have felt the presence of the Union.

I believe that HMRC has a very impressive talent pool however due to a variety of reasons; this

talent pool is not being retained.

On the Committee, I hope to work towards the common objective of making HMRC a better workplace for us all and in doing so; I hope we would achieve higher staff retention. I also hope to work towards promoting the union to boost memberships as this would make the union even stronger.

Originally from Pakistan, I came to the UK to study Economics and Finance at the University of Manchester, where I met my partner who now is also a TSP2014 trainee. For reasons still unknown to us, we found ourselves unwilling to move from this windy and rainy gem of the north. Away from the office, I am a passionate traveler, having recently reached a personal milestone of visiting 28 different countries before my 28th birthday. I must also admit that I am a big foodie, so my travelling involves a lot of culinary experiences. Apart from that, I am a keen cricket follower and do sometimes try my skills on the pitch but mostly food gets in the way.

I am aware that we are facing several challenges in the coming years, including the digital reorganization of our department and the relocation of our workforce into Regional Centers. I am confident that by working together, and with ARC playing the lead role in representing the best interests of the workforce, we will make these transitions as smooth as possible. • arcnews

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FIRST

Kenny Mitchell

I

’m writing this introduction after my first Committee meeting. I was really impressed with the level of dedication and enthusiasm amongst your Committee for 2016 onwards; if I can add to this in any way I’ll be doing OK. I joined the former HMCE in 2003, having spent nearly 10 years working in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. After eight years of alcohol and tobacco work in the Customs end of things (both of which are close to my heart), I was co-opted to the dark side of direct tax and joined TPDP 2011. Four years of travel to and from Trinity Bridge House led to a degree from the Manchester Poly and a CT tax specialist role in WMBC. As I’ve recently come from a graduate programme, although I’m certainly not a new graduate, I have a keen interest in HMRC’s training programmes and how they can be improved.

I have been a trade union member all my working life, firstly in NIPSA and then in PCS, but never volunteered to get involved. More often I sat and watched and grumbled from the side lines. If truth arcnews

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be told, I believe that nowadays trade unions act best where they protect the individual member and that protection is something we all might need at some point in our working lives. When the NI reserved seat on Committee came up this year, the time was right to put up or shut up. My candidacy was unanimously endorsed by NI

ARC members; closer to the truth, noone else volunteered and you’ve been left with me.

The next five years will be difficult for our members as HMRC corrals us into Regional Centres.

Despite the hype and publicity around Building Our Future and the constant talk of “conversations” and “engagement”, this is being forced upon us. The truth is that we know little about our future. The more HMRC talks to us about BOF, the less engaged we all seem to become.

Many of us will have tough decisions to make, some of us will not be here in five years. Join ARC now and we’ll do all we can to protect you personally, while at the same time collectively bargaining for the interests of us all.

Away from this I have a beautiful wife and two beautiful daughters and enjoy golf, real ale, red wine and Spurs. I dislike Arsenal, unreal ale, white wine and management speak, but not necessarily in that order. •

I BELIEVE THAT NOWADAYS TRADE UNIONS ACT BEST WHERE THEY PROTECT THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBER AND THAT PROTECTION IS SOMETHING WE ALL MIGHT NEED AT SOME POINT IN OUR WORKING LIVES.

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LETTERS Letters on all topics are welcome. We may edit letters for sense and syntax; please email them to arcnewseditor@gmail.com and mark them clearly for publication, or write to ARC, 8 Leake Street, London SE1 7NN.

Lessons from the Easter Rising FROM: EUGENE MITCHELL BY EMAIL

I

found the eye witness account from the Easter Rising in 1916 really interesting and very topical as my wife and I had spent this easter weekend in Dublin to experience the centenary. It was very informative to compare the eye witness account with the records that have been produced since then. For example the eye witness account suggests that casualties were mainly incurred by the rebels and the British soldiers whereas civilians actually made up the majority of the people killed in Dublin during the rising.

Alison and I live in Scotland and we had gone through the recent independence referendum.

The reason we wanted to experience the centenary was to try to imagine what it might be like to live in an independent country, and to enjoy celebrations that we will never experience in our own country. (While independence may come to Scotland at some time I think it’s highly unlikely that either of us will be around to celebrate its centenary!)

The rising itself was not particularly popular among the citizens of Dublin. A few years earlier Jim Larkin from Liverpool, who established the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, had led the Dublin lockout which ultimately resulted in a 6

victory for the employers and their imposition of wage cuts. With so many Dubliners on starvation money for several months as the factories and mills were closed during the lockout it’s possibly unsurprising there wasn’t overwhelming popular support for something that was certain to cause huge disruption for many for a long time.

Consequently when the rebels had surrendered the crowds lining the street booed them as they were marched off to Dublin Castle. It was really only what happened after that that turned popular opinion in Dublin, London and across the world and resulted in the position we are in today. The treatment of all the prisoners who had been rounded up was savage with the leaders being executed over a protracted period. These included James Connolly, the Edinburgh socialist who had worked with Jim Larkin on the lockout and who, despite being seriously injured, was brought out tied to a chair and shot by firing squad. The government had been warned that such treatment would change public opinion. They didn’t listen, and that’s exactly what happened.

Another of the leaders to be executed was Joseph Plunkett, a poet and nationalist who, the night before his execution,

married Grace Gifford. All these events gave rise to many songs that are still popular today but one of the saddest and most beautiful of these was about that wedding, Grace, written by Sean and Frank O’Meara. In fact the saddest aspect of this incident was that it took more than 30 years after the wedding for Plunkett’s family to acknowledge that the wedding was legitimate and for Grace Gifford to get what she was entitled to.

So as we returned to Glasgow I thought about the history I’d witnessed and wondered whether there weren’t parallels with current events: a struggle for independence (albeit of a different nature), the challenge of getting popular opinion on the side of a not hugely popular body, a government that doesn’t listen, the need to engage with as wide a range of stakeholders as possible in order to influence, the struggle to be fairly treated by uncaring employers, oppressive behaviour by those in authority and denial of women’s rights. Do we ever learn from history? • arcnews

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TAX SIMPLIFICATION

FIRST

Heading off Magna Carta IAIN CAMPBELL REPORTS ON THE WORK OF THE OFFICE FOR TAX SIMPLIFICATION, INSPIRED BY A SPEECH FROM THE AGM (see AGM SPECIAL-12).

THE OTS HAD REDUCED THE NUMBER OF RELIEFS TO 999, ONLY FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO THEN RAMP IT UP AGAIN TO 1154. WE ARE NOW IN THE MID-12TH CENTURY. ON PRESENT TRENDS WE WILL SOON REACH MAGNA CARTA (1215).

T

he AGM had the chance to look at some things apart from our day-to-day issues, Building Our Future or structural pay aims. John Whiting from the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), and an HMRC Non-Executive Director, gave a short and relatively light-hearted talk on the work of the OTS. This included such facts as how the OTS had reduced the number of reliefs to 999, only for the Government to then ramp it up again to 1154. We are now in the mid-12th century (the BBC says the Middle Ages began on 19 December 1154 when Henry II became King). On present trends we will soon reach Magna Carta (1215).

The OTS is working to reverse this growth. John tested the audience’s knowledge on a range of arcane legislation and procedures (Q: why is there a separate National Insurance bill? A: Because Parliament likes doing it that way) It has recently produced a comprehensive review of small company taxation – with a wide range of possible simplifications, such as more cash accounting or a ‘lookthrough’ approach. Other areas of work were the different treatment and definitions of employment/self-employment. We learned that in one fiscal jurisdiction, a key determinant is whether a person has a nameplate on their desk – clearly a proxy for whether the individual is an integral part of the business. Or how arcnews

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tax based on the number of tables in Spanish restaurants is avoided by using barrels on which to serve tapas.

There was a lot of questions, so much so that John invited ARC members to provide him with some real examples of areas where simplification was needed and could be achieved. He also wondered if ARC Committee, as part of its work developing ARC’s role as a professional association, could be one of the groups the OTS approached to discuss new work. I think this would be a very welcome move and would give members the chance to feed back to us on some nuts and bolts of the tax system. My favourite hobby horse – which will never happen – is to abolish NICs completely and adjust tax rates in exchange.

As our new website is now up and running I will be working

with the developers to see if we can provide links to sites such as the OTS, or host some form of online survey about simplification – and maybe get some votes for ending NICs? Of course, if anyone feels so strongly about some part of simplification they cannot wait, we’d be happy to gather up the comments and prepare a note for the OTS. As the OTS will shortly become a statutory body, with a new and broader remit, it has produced a future strategy consultation document. Follow the link below to read the document and add your comments. • LINK: WWW.GOV.UK/GOVERNMENT/ PUBLICATIONS/SIMPLIFYING-TAX-FOR-THEFUTURE-A-CONSULTATION-ON-OURFUTURE-STRATEGY. THIS LINK IS UP ON THE ARC WEBSITE: ARCUNION.ORG.UK/ ARCNEWS. 7

OBITUARY

Jeff Rodin MICHELLE WYER

C

olleagues were shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Jeff Rodin on April 16 after a short illness. Jeff was a hugely popular, well-respected figure in HMRC, particularly in North London.

I first encountered Jeff when we were interviewing and assessing potential new Tax Inspectors – what fun we had. He became an informal mentor and a good friend. When I mentioned his name to a colleague, who doesn’t work in HMRC, she said, ‘do you mean THE Jeff Rodin’? and I realised that he had a massive political profile outside HMRC! Thereafter I always referred to him as ‘THE Jeff Rodin!’

And of course, he did have a tax case named after him, Falmer Jeans v Rodin, which in my view definitely means you’ve made it as a tax inspector.

Jeff was born in 1950 and spent his childhood in Hackney and then Harrow. He graduated in Politics and Sociology from Birmingham University in 1971, having been active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement - being Birmingham organiser of the Stop the ‘70 Tour Campaign - as well as being heavily involved in the opposition to the Vietnam War. His political commitment continued throughout his life.

He joined the then Inland Revenue shortly after graduation and soon made a name for himself, investigating people in the pornography and sex industry, many of whom had no Inland Revenue file despite vast fortunes. This led to his transfer to Special Office on promotion to Grade 7 where he continued his very successful 8

work on the sex industry, garnering plaudits from colleagues and death threats from some of his targets. As possible promotion to Grade 6 approached someone finally noticed that Jeff had never had District charge and he was sent for a short period as DI of King’s Cross district which resulted in the expected promotion. The rest of Jeff ’s career was spent as Officer in Charge, [DI], of a number of different North London tax offices including Finchley, Tottenham, Barking and Dagenham, Hendon and, after Area Management arrived, North London Area which covered the London Boroughs of Enfield, Barnet and Haringey.

Although a loyal member of the union, Jeff ’s real activism was in the political world outside the department. He was elected a Labour councillor for Bowes Ward on Enfield Council in 1986, achieving leadership of the opposition Labour group only three years later. In the 1994 elections he led the Labour group to victory after many years of Conservative control, and repeated the feat in 1998. Having stood down as Group Leader in 1999, he was reelected to the post in 2005 and led the Labour party to victory again in 2010, although on this occasion he immediately handed over the leadership of the Council. In 2008 he became a trustee of Enfield Citizens’ Advice Bureau and was elected Chair of the Trustees in 2010.

And now to the fond stories and personal experiences of Jeff – and I’ve received many: “I was based in Hendon when Jeff became the DI there. Before he arrived we had heard through

the grapevine about how casual and laid-back he was. This was a view he liked to promote but, of course, was completely untrue. He seemed very casual but we were left in no doubt that targets were going to be met.

“Jeff was a very popular DI. He took an interest in all members of the staff and encouraged individuals to apply for different posts etc. He was always very supportive. However on a more basic level, he spoke to everyone. When he became the Large Business Head, he would visit the office and stop and talk to everyone.

Some suggested it was the politician in him but he made a point of stopping even just for a minute to speak to everyone. Something that was much appreciated.”

“There was a rumour that Jeff would arrange meetings at 11am/11:30am instead of the more conventional 10am – which made a trip for a pint at the close of the meeting coincidentally convenient!”

Another ‘urban myth’ is that arcnews

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THERE WAS A RUMOUR THAT JEFF WOULD ARRANGE MEETINGS AT 11AM/11:30AM INSTEAD OF THE MORE CONVENTIONAL 10AM – WHICH, MADE A TRIP FOR A PINT AT THE CLOSE OF THE MEETING COINCIDENTALLY CONVENIENT.

Jeff fell asleep in a number of meetings. “When I was a G7, seeing Jeff falling asleep in a number of meetings – very difficult when the Area Director is clearly completely gone and we’re trying to decide key things on the way forward. We’d reach a decision in Jeff ’s “absence”, he’d then “wake up”, summarise all (and I mean all) that had been said, provide his own suggestions including why what we’d decided in his “absence” wasn’t as wise as we had thought, propose something else, and have this carried unanimously. We’d move on, jaws dropped at this amazing man.

I still wish I knew how he did that! No doubt sitting through endless political meetings was the learning environment.”

“I recall his very large DI room being incredibly messy, & in the days when many Inspectors still wore suits, he certainly didn’t & instead wore a hideous bright yellow jumper. He was very supportive to staff with personal difficulties. He always knew who arcnews

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everyone was and walked round the office saying “Good Morning” to everyone. “ “Jeff was a true Hackney boy, he was a Spurs fan and season ticket holder and would have been delighted that Spurs finished so well in the league this year, although doubtless furious that Arsenal finished one point ahead. He was active in a number of Third Sector organisations: He was one of those former tax Inspectors who did work for Tax Help for Older People; after he retired he continued to work on behalf of the Enfield community at the Citizens Advice Bureau (which he chaired) and Community Transport (where, instead of driving the Tories mad he volunteered as a driver). He was a passionate and conviction politician, he was an active anti-apartheid campaigner and supported Jews for Justice for Palestinians; for his 60th birthday, his party invitation asked friends to give a donation to Liberty instead of buying presents. He was noted for his hard work - although there were many he didn’t see eye to eye with, including his local MP. He continued campaigning against the austerity policies to the end, and in 2011 co-founded Enfield Alliance Against the Cuts.

What’s clear from all of the stories, and from my own friendship with him, was that Jeff was sharp, talented, funny, a committed socialist and a humanitarian, [who liked a pint, a football match

and a cigar!] He will be remembered with a smile by many who knew him.

The Editor adds: Jeff was my second DI when I was a trainee and we remained close friends thereafter. He and Marian threw fantastic New Year’s Eve parties. I well remember his popularity with all the staff, even the sixteen-year-old Arsenal fan (who was also Jewish) who insisted that his team, not Spurs, were the true Jewish team. That conversation, civilised but mockserious, went on for a year. He was a living demonstration of Civil Service values, remaining courteous throughout an interview with a vocally right-wing investigation target who simply assumed that we shared his views, and constantly mispronounced Jeff ’s surname despite Jeff ’s polite corrections (he assumed it was French).

Jeff never gave any hint that he found the man’s loud opinions (on unemployment, immigration, etc.) repulsive. I was less surprised than many of my friends at the ‘Portillo moment’ in 1997 - Jeff had told me a couple of years earlier that his analysis of the Council results and the canvas returns had convinced him that Portillo’s seat was vulnerable. Jeff ’s funeral was packed: Revenue, Labour Party, CAB and simply those whose lives had been made richer by knowing him. And I’ve never heard The Red Flag sung with greater enthusiasm, as he would have wished. • THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING FOR SHARING MEMORIES OF JEFF FOR THIS OBITUARY:MEL PACKER, LIA POTTINGER MIKE DYCE, PHIL SPENCE, BERNARD HUGHES. THIS ARTICLE WILL APPEAR ON THE NEW ARCUNION.ORG.UK WEBSITE, WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR OWN REMINISCENCES OF JEFF. 9

AGM CONFERENCE NEWBIE

We are Spartacus!

RICHARD HALL

V

irgin? Newbie?

Neophyte? Call me what you will, the truth is that this year’s AGM was my first time and, in time honoured tradition, and thanks to some cunning ‘volunteering’ by Mike Simmons, I have been asked to share my experiences with you.

When I found out that conference was going on the road and was only a stone’s throw (38 miles) from Sheffield, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to attend. This year also saw the completion of my final TPDP 2012 exam and so I had no more excuses not to go.

Before setting off to Nottingham I had gone through all the AGM papers looking at the agenda, motions and the rules to try to get an understanding of what we would be doing for the two days.

Even though I had seen the articles in ARC News and spoken to people who had been to the conference before, I still expected that it would be an extremely formal affair, similar to the State Opening of Parliament, with a rigid structure of speeches and voting with herehere’s and aye’s to the left etc.

There were still the speeches and votes but it was nowhere near as formal as I thought. It also helped that we (the newbies) had a preconference get together with Paula Houghton who let us know what was about to happen, she even mentioned the obligatory round of

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applause you’ll get if you mention that you’re a first-timer!

This year saw the AGM split over two days so only about half of the motions were covered on the Tuesday with the rest being held over to Wednesday morning. Day one was fairly straight forward with all the motions passing with little/no opposition. In between the two days came the (in) famous ARC formal dinner. Everything about the evening was beyond what I expected. The food was great, the speeches were entertaining (and brief) and I got the chance to meet a lot of new people, catch up with some others I hadn’t seen for a while and do all this wearing a three piece suit. It was great to see everyone letting their hair down and enjoying themselves, even if it did mean getting in at about 3.30am!

Day two of the conference involved a lot more debate (and paracetamol) with Wednesday seeing the conflicting motions regarding Pay. This lead to a pretty action packed morning with calls for

I’M NOT SAYING WE COULD DEFEAT THE ROMAN EMPIRE, BUT ATTENDING CONFERENCE HAS INSPIRED ME TO WANT TO GET MORE INVOLVED, AND MAYBE EVEN PUT FORWARD A MOTION OR TWO MYSELF NEXT YEAR.

remission, arguments for, arguments against, rights of reply and rounds of applause for the proposers. This is what I wanted from the conference, real debate on what we do in the future.

Overall the conference far exceeded what I expected and was much more fun than I thought. I have been racking my brain to try and think of the words to sum up how it made me feel and why you should attend but I couldn’t put it better than Ashley Falla (Leicester centre)/ Kirk Douglas (aging actor). I AM SPARTACUS! After I got home from conference and the days passed I remember that phrase spoken so emphatically by Ashley during a motion on pay. I remember sitting in the conference hall seeing my fellow union members debate this issue and it reminded me of just what the union is here to achieve. We are a group of people who join together to stand up for better pay, working conditions and a fair deal for all of us. WE ARE SPARTACUS! It doesn’t mean we all have to agree all the time, nor am I saying we could defeat the Roman empire, but attending conference has inspired me to want to get more involved, and maybe even put forward a motion or two myself next year. So why not come next year and see what it’s all about!

And, if you do, come and find me, I’ll definitely be there. • arcnews

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AGM CONFERENCE NEWBIE

FIRST

Getting back on speaking terms VICKY LAMB

T

his year I found myself at the ARC union conference for the first time in my dozen years of membership. No-one else had volunteered and once I was reassured that the union would cover my expenses, that I could wrap a training course round the AGM to preserve my annual leave, and that I wouldn’t have to speak, I realised that an all-inclusive twonight break centred on a champagne reception and formal dinner was probably the best offer I’ve had in at least a decade and I’d be an idiot not to accept.

Most of my colleagues don’t take an active interest in the union any more – they’re just too busy for it and many feel that ARC doesn’t represent them and is full of middle-aged men harping on about the old days and reserved rights to first class travel. I hoped to reassure myself that this wasn’t true.

Initially I was daunted, but I found that I knew, or knew of, a arcnews

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surprising number of the 120 or so delegates. Most people were a lot younger (and more enthusiastic) than the disgruntled old codgers I’d been warned to expect, and there were lots of trainees.

There were lots of first timers too, and we were quickly talked through the procedures before the AGM started. Motions debated at ARC’s AGM set the direction the membership wants the union to take and which issues to take to HMRC to discuss, negotiate or challenge.

While there were lots of motions pertaining to trainee issues, terms and conditions and pay, the dominant theme was Building our Future. If you include flexible working, it was the subject of over a third of the motions, highlighting the importance of the issues to the union and its members.

So, at the behest of its membership, ARC is to do all it can to ensure clear communications every step of the way between HMRC and both itself and its members. ARC will also be trying to establish what roles, at what levels, will be available where, and working with HMRC to try to ensure that there are adequate career development opportunities in every location. They are also to engage with HMRC to try to create opportunities within the organisation for staff with no access to a regional centre.

On the buildings themselves,

ARC will continue to press for adequate locations and facilities for staff, and ensure that diversity and the additional needs of many of our colleagues are always considered. ARC will also press HMRC to ensure Mapeley continues to adequately maintain our existing offices till they close.

Unsurprisingly, none of these issues were contentious and almost all of the motions were passed. There was only one point in the AGM where the debate got more heated as three conflicting motions on pay incentives to reward specialist skills were debated. Speakers started to get involved, eloquent, even passionate, at last. I was enthralled as a committee member summarily resigned mid-debate and ARC narrowly achieved a mandate to discuss proposals for additional payments for specialists rather than immediately rejecting them.

Personally I was, and remain, absolutely gutted with the outcome. I’m only thankful that my first AGM wasn’t such a rollercoaster ride from start to end.

I should mention the speeches and, as you can imagine, there were a fair few over the 2 days.

Highlights were hearing the Jedward joke for the first time (sadly not the last), discovering that Jon Thompson is the spit of Bob Carolgees (if you’ll pardon the pun), and having William Hague assure us that PMR is here to stay while simultaneously forewarning us of its demise by alluding to the pilot “tweaking it” (Google “PCS VOA PMR”). The appearance at the AGM dinner of Messrs Thompson, Troup and Hague was a surprise to me and a testament to outgoing ARC President Tony Wallace’s success in getting ARC and HMRC back on speaking terms. Given the momentous changes going forward, it’s a huge relief.

The dinner was lovely, by the way, though I dread the photos.

And first class travel wasn’t mentioned once. • 11

THE

LONELINESS OF THE

LONG-DISTANCE

PRESIDENT

VICKY JOHNSON describes her early days in the top chair, with some bonus blogs thrown in.

W

ell, I’m three weeks in and I’ve written three blogs – and now I’m writing something for arcnews.

I’ve added my blogs to the end of this article for those who don’t read the forum. Now the new website is launched you can also read them there (arcunion.org.uk) – so there’s no

12

excuse for not reading them! I’m toying with the idea of asking the retired Tax Inspector to write a diary for arcnews but I think the smugness would shine through and I might be forced to harm him.

So, what’s happening at the moment?

The big pieces are pay and BoF. With pay we have had two meetings and now the Treasury guidance is out we are able to talk to the employer about what we can do with 1%. I have asked for some basic information about what 1% of the G6/G7 pay bill is and I am waiting for that information to be provided along with various pieces of data that will show us what arcnews

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PRESIDENT’S PIECE I SIT IN AN OFFICE WITH ‘ARC PRESIDENT’ ON THE DOOR AND SOME DAYS I COULD SPEAK TO NOBODY UNLESS I GET UP AND MAKE AN EFFORT (WHICH I DO) OR CALL SOMEBODY! SO FEEL FREE TO GET IN TOUCH AND SHARE ANY IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

the modelling for the department is this year and next year. (The guidance can be found at http://bit.ly/29Tayg3) Once we have all the information we can start looking at different ways to utilise the 1% but it’s not going to be much. I will share more with you as soon as I can but currently all I can say is there is commitment from the department to pay in June but of course that leaves little time for negotiation – rock and a hard place springs to mind.

For BoF we continue to hold meetings with the Workforce Planning team and they continue to be informative and frustrating in equal parts.

Informative because we are given information at the meetings but we arcnews

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then find that some of it has already been communicated – so frustrating because that’s not consultation and we are constantly reminding the team of that. I am very fortunate that the Employee Relations Team is committed to improving. With them on our side we hope to be able to keep improving it, in a two-steps-forward-one-stepback sort of way.

Other things on my radar include organising the new Committee to allocate roles and responsibilities. Today (10 May) I have flipchart paper ready to start writing up what I have had so far from Committee and filling in the gaps with new members. Tomorrow is my first Committee meeting. It’s not an away day in the interests of costs, but it is on the first floor of Leake Street in the Prospect part of the building so we are sort of away. We have a large part of our agenda to discuss how we work over the next two years and also to discuss whether we go out to fill the five committee vacancies straight away or whether we consider co-opting people. I’m keen to have new people on Committee and I’m starting with one of the speakers from Conference – I’m just waiting for final reports to be in and then I’m going to start my campaign!

Talking of Conference we’d be interested in some feedback, on the venue, on the timing, on taking it out of London and on why people didn’t make it – was it to do with the timing or something else? We have to make a decision about next year and I’d like it to be an informed decision rather than a rushed one.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two days in an ‘Oh my, this is actually happening’ sort of way. I haven’t sat on top table before so that was new. I hadn’t realised that the green, amber and red light system was not automatic and that every year I’ve been at conference the person operating the system (to

time the speakers) was using a stop watch to do so. Quite why I didn’t realise that is beyond me, maybe I thought it was a voice activated timing system, or maybe (as the retired Tax Inspector is occasionally heard to say) it was just gross stupidity!

On the previous page in this edition you will have seen a report from two first-timers at conference (p10-11). It’s a really interesting read and hopefully the myth that ARC is all grey-haired middle-aged men has been completely dispelled by the new leadership team of me, Paula and Zohra (who was also on top table with me and Tony) and I’m sorry they remain gutted by the outcome of the pay debate. I hope they understand the need to explore every avenue, however they feel about the outcome of the debate. They may find themselves next on my list of targets for new Committee members!

So there’s a brief snapshot of what’s coming across my desk. Then there’s casework, liaison, picking up issues and finding someone to handle them, finding out if something has been dealt with…it’s busy and it’s interesting but it’s actually quite lonely. I sit in an office with ‘ARC President’ on the door and some days I could speak to nobody unless I get up and make an effort (which I do) or call somebody! So feel free to get in touch and share any ideas or suggestions you may have. I can’t promise anything in terms of results but if you think there is something we could usefully be doing I can promise to consider it.

What I can also promise is I will do my best to lead ARC through the next two years and continue to build on the relationship we have rebuilt (under Tony’s leadership) with HMRC. Starting on 31 May when Paula and I meet with Jon Thompson, Edward Troup, William Hague, Joe Dugdale and Chris Elliot. There’s a joke to be made out of that attendee list somewhere! → 13

PRESIDENT’S BLOG: 24 APRIL, 2016

The end of the first ten days…

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he end of the first ten days....

I said I would relaunch the President’s blog, so here we are, some weeks it may be longer, this week it sort of sets the scene!

So I’m one week in and getting used to being in control of what I do. Except I’m not, I think I know what I want to achieve but something else will happen and I have to do something different. I commented when I got home on Thursday night that I hadn’t achieved anything. My family pointed out it had only been a week so I’ll give it one more before I worry!

So, what have I done this first week?

Well the day after conference I travelled to London for a handover with Tony. This involved my taking his desk off him and sending him to sort all his paper elsewhere while I settled in and was shown round the office by Zohra. Tony thinks the office is too tidy now but I’m not letting that bother me! Then I had Friday in Birmingham getting rid of all my emails and making sure my successor had everything she needed.

On Monday 18 April I began my first full week. Mark (the retired Tax Inspector) dropped me at Solihull Station with my very large suitcase and a label saying please look after this bear and I was straight into my first pay meeting on Monday afternoon. It 14

wasn’t about the amount of the award it was about making sure the process runs better this year. I made the point, quite forcibly, that I wanted no repeat of last year’s delay that cost some of our member’s money in increased pension ”contributions”. The employer acknowledged they did not want that either and are aiming to pay THIS IS MY the award in SECOND WEEK June.

LIVING IN SWISS Tuesday was a meeting at the COTTAGE AND British library COMMUTING. I with Iain CampHAVE LEARNT bell to talk to THAT YOU DO about the review of HMRC being NOT STROLL carried out for ANYWHERE John McDonWHEN YOU nell. The discusARE USING THE sion did not focus on areas I TUBE, NOR CAN thought it might YOU LOOK LEFT and if I’m honest OR RIGHT IF I’m not sure SOMETHING what sort of a INTERESTS YOU. review they have done. Iain will hopefully be able to clarify in one of our updates and we await any publication of the ‘results’ of this ‘review’ with interest.

Then Wednesday was admin, casework and organisation ready for the

meetings this week.

On Thursday I was in Nottingham being an independent at a validation meeting and on Friday I was talking casework again, this time in Birmingham. I managed to persuade LB in Birmingham to let me have their testing tablet on loan until mine arrives. I need to be able to see what you can all see so I can speak to it if I need to. This achievement on Friday was most welcome and actually means I did achieve something in my first week, I’ve made it easier to help you by having access to HMRC systems.

This is my second week living in Swiss Cottage and commuting. I have learnt that you do not stroll anywhere when you are using the tube, nor can you look left or right if something interests you. I have also learnt that comfortable shoes are a must so I have been shopping much to the distress of the retired Tax Inspector.

Speaking of the retired Tax Inspector, he tells me he is fine and enjoying the peace (I cannot think what he means). His week was filled with carpet fitting, curtain delivery, karate, trombone lessons (not him) and a trip to Liverpool. I think he was pleased to see me when I got home on Thursday but I might be wrong!

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PRESIDENT’S BLOG

PRESIDENT’S BLOG: 3 MAY, 2016

My “stretch” this year – leading 2,400 people through tough times

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s I start writing this I am all packed and ready to go down to London on Bank Holiday Monday night so that I can get a full day in tomorrow.

Last week was busy again and this week is shaping up the same way.

Monday was the quarterly diversity and equality meeting with Helen Baird-Parker, Mark Leopard from PCS and the Head of Diversity and Equality. Helen works really hard on our arcnews

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behalf making sure the department follows its own equality policies but she’s been struggling to get any sensible suggestions for discussing the Regional Centres and what is needed to make them inclusive for all. In fact just before the meeting we were told again that it was not the forum to discuss diversity issues in the Regional Centres and that we had to put it on the agenda for the Workforce Management meetings. We were then

agreeably surprised to learn of some of the work that has been happening around diversity and Regional Centres and made the point that it would have been better for us to have known sooner. We have diversity issues on the agenda at next week’s workforce management meeting with Ravi Chand and this feels like a step forwards. As ever we shall wait to see what happens before saying we have solved the lack of consultation but it feels like a step forwards.

This was the subject of a couple of motions at Conference, so while we are still waiting for some of the information we have requested we have moved part of the issue forwards.

Tuesday was my first Officers’ dial in. I think it went well. We discussed conference and who will lead on arrangements for next years. If you read the forum you will know that we have asked for feedback on this year’s conference from everyone, whether they attended or not. We’re interested in finding out why people couldn’t make it – was it the timing or the location or both? Please do let us know as soon as possible as we need to decide where and when to hold next years.

Wednesday was the first quarterly Employee Engagement positioning meeting with the new Head of Employee Relations and the team from Manchester. This was a look back at what had happened in the last quarter and a look at what is coming through in the next quarter. Also on Wednesday I dialled into a finance and performance call to hear that the finance team are currently comfortable we will come in on budget for 2016-17. I asked them about T & S and what they

I REFLECTED ON THE PAST YEAR WITH MY MANAGER AND AGREED WHAT MY ‘STRETCH’ WOULD BE FOR THIS YEAR – I WAS PLEASED SHE AGREED IT COULD BE BEING PRESIDENT AND LEADING OVER 2,400 PEOPLE THROUGH SOME TOUGH TIMES.

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had done to be sure we did not have a repeat of last year’s chaos over travelling to customer meetings. They have asked me for examples of this. I have a few I can share from my own experience but I really need more. There were a number of speakers to T & S motions at Conference and I will be contacting them this week to ask for further details before sending something into the Finance Team. So the ball is now rolling on that motion too.

Finally on Wednesday I had a meeting about the method of calculating DTA for those moving into the first tranche of Regional Centres. Nothing is yet set in stone but I hope to be able to convey some reasonably good news on this front shortly.

Then I travelled back to Birmingham (the retired Tax Inspector collected me from the station at 20.30) so that I could attend BOF4 in Telford on Thursday. I enjoyed it but the feedback suggests it may get tweaked for future events – for those of you who haven’t yet been do be prepared, it’s a long day and quite tiring. I did manage to speak to Mark Dearnley and he may speak at next year’s dinner providing it’s not on 12 April again as that’s his birthday.

Friday was my final end-of-year discussion with my manager and a chance to reflect. I reflected on the past year with my manager and agreed what my ‘stretch’ would be for this year – I was pleased she agreed it could be being President and leading over 2,400 people through some tough times. I also reflected on the week and was pleased to see that I had managed to achieve something again – a small change in the diversity discussions and two motions from conference moving forwards.

Finally what has the retired tax inspector been doing? He played bridge on Tuesday and lowered the average age of the attendees at the bridge club. Then he had a Governor’s meeting on Wednesday which he had to fit in between his taxi duties. His pension notification arrived on Thursday and his tax code is wrong so he’ll be spending some time this week on the phone trying to sort that out. I’ll report back on his progress!

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PRESIDENT’S BLOG: 9 MAY, 2016

Four meetings and a bonfire

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ast week was another eventful week. I travelled down on Monday night so I could get a full day in on Tuesday. I wanted to prepare for the Workforce & Location meeting with Ravi Chand’s team on Tuesday afternoon. We had (you may recall) managed to get diversity onto the agenda and I wanted to be clear on what I needed to say to make sure the tentative engagement that we had achieved would become proper consultation. The meeting was challenging but by the end we had agreed that diversity should stay on the agenda for Ravi’s meetings and a separate forum should be set up so we

can consider the impact on members throughout the process – not just the impact on who lands where when the Regional Centres are set up. We have again requested sight of the diversity research carried out and the Employer Engagement team have agreed to facilitate a meeting with the ESS team member who led on this in the run up to 12 November.

Wednesday was two meetings; firstly Paula and I went to meet Joe Dugdale to discuss what areas we should focus on.

Joe was interested in our concerns around retention, around trainees and also around how consultation with the department was working better in arcnews

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PRESIDENT’S BLOG

some places than in others. It was a productive hour and Joe had already added his weight to my request for an early meeting with Jon Thompson and Edward Troup. Paula and I will be focusing on our reward package but will also use the opportunity to raise other concerns around consultation.

Later on Wednesday I went to meet OTS with Iain Campbell and confused security at the Treasury side of the building because they could only find my name for the earlier meeting. I managed to sneak past then spent an hour chatting with John Whiting about how ARC could help OTS. Iain will be writing something for ARC News so watch out for that.

I had intended to go home on Wednesday night and travel to Manchester on Thursday for a -workshop with the Employer Engagement team around protocols and the end-to end process for redundancy. Our PCS colleagues have a number of members who have now been served with

arcnews

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compulsory redundancy notices and have expressed concern around how the protocols have been followed. The Employer Engagement team recognised there have been areas that had not worked so well and wanted to review this with both unions. At the same time Cabinet Office finally agreed a time for a meeting to discuss PCS concerns around the same issue – redundancy and protocols. We decided that I had better attend that as Tony had previously been involved. So I arranged for Loz Hutton and Zohra to go to Manchester and stayed down in London an extra night. I found Simon Claydon from Cabinet Office very fair – I was quite impressed with him though I have reserved judgement. As it turns out PCS could not field anyone for Manchester (they came to Cabinet Office) so the workshop was cancelled and rearranged for Monday morning.

Friday was a day in Birmingham, writing and submitting our pay claim ready for Monday afternoon’s pay

meeting and unfortunately handing back the tablet I had acquired as CDIO decided that the tester tablet actually should be allocated to the person it was originally sent to. I’ve emailed CDIO and asked them to help me get an early slot in phase two so I hope to be back online soon!

Earlier last week the retired Tax Inspector spent 15 minutes on the phone to HMRC only to be told they could not access his record so he was promised a call back. Not to be beaten and (as you do) knowing the PD1 number for serving HMRC staff he rang PD1 and got his code sorted. On Wednesday night I got a text to say he was enjoying a bonfire (without the usual visit from the fire brigade). Then on Friday he got his call back from HMRC and could tell the caller he had sorted his code. Now the weather has improved he has been out in the garden, which is starting to look pretty good – the lilac will come out over the next few weeks, if you’re lucky I’ll post a picture! •

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All our yesterdays JEREMY BURROWS TAKES A LOOK BACK THROUGH THE PAGES OF QUARTERLY RECORD, THE MAGAZINE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF INSPECTORS OF TAXES.

IN THE BEGINNING: DECEMBER 1904

WAS THIS THE TOUR A MEMBER WAS ENVISAGING IN 1904?

LOUIS TROUSSELIER, WINNER OF THE 1905 TOUR DE FRANCE

treatment may be anticipated in the future than in the recent past, and that no application will be taken up with the intention of seeking out reasons for its refusal.

Financial

A member would be glad to have the company of a fellow-member next summer (if leave can be arranged) for a cycling tour, to include Cherbourg, Limoges, Gorges of Tarn, Geneva, Zermatt, Basel. – Enquire of Editor.

On allegations of over-pressure which have lately been so much exercising the minds of Surveyors we can say little here beyond that it is by far the most important 18

question now before the Association. That the present system of clerical assistance is at the bottom of it there is no doubt, and the Committee may be relied on to take action at the opportune moment. It would be a sign of weakness if those individual Surveyors who are working excessive hours, and are handicapped by an insufficient or inefficient clerical staff, did not bring their cases under the notice of the Board.

There is a feeling that more liberal

The Treasurer reports that out of a total membership of 355 he has received subscriptions from 261. He will be greatly obliged if defaulters will obviate a No. 156 by remitting their arrears at their early convenience.

Personal Members will be pleased to hear that our much respected colleague, Mr Ernest Clarke, who was specially selected to organise the newly-imposed income tax at the Cape, is expected to return early in the New Year. A hearty welcome and let us hope immediate promotion, awaits him. arcnews

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QUARTERLY RECORD SCHOOLBOY’S EFFICS: WE’LL TELL YA ‘OW IT IS.

100 YEARS AGO: JANUARY 1916

The following extracts are taken from the Quarterly Record for January 1916. The question of “what is income?” is one with which we have all had to grapple from time to time, no doubt. The final extract, with its suggested armlet for surveyors of taxes, clearly picks up the theme of the War Badge which we have seen in a previous extract published in the “100 years ago” section.

The Schoolboy’s Ethics The following extract from a short story entitled “The Revenge,” by Eden Philpotts, which appeared in the December number of the Windsor Magazine, gives the schoolboy hero’s views as to a certain section of the community who “do good by stealth and blush to find it fame”: “Sometimes, Pratt, people don’t pay enough Income Tax; but presently there comes a feeling over them that they have defrauded the innocent and trustful Government, and their hearts are softened – I daresay often by a arcnews

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missionary, like mine was – and then they send five-pound notes by great stealth to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and feel better.

And their consciences are quickly cleared. But they take jolly good care not to send their names, because they know that, if they did, the Chancellor of the Exchequer would go much further, and, far from rewarding them for their conduct, would very likely want more still, and never trust them again about their incomes, and persecute them to their dying day.”

How to end the War The following communication hails from Lancashire. We recommend the writer’s suggestion to the favourable consideration of the authorities: “I have done my best to fill up this maze, and given the truth and nothing but the truth. Can you say, or King George either say, he will be here on earth this day week, how much more so then

next year. If England wants peace send Kaiser Bill, the German butcher, six of these forms. He will at once go mad, committ [sic] suicide in some way, and the war will end at once, and a lasting peace will prevail. yours sincerely, An old boiler-maker, doing what he can to keep the Grand Old Flag Flying.”

What is Income The following view as to what does not constitute income is a novel one: “As to acting chaplain’s fees I received from the Army authorities in all £14 14s. This I regard, not so much as income, but rather as a windfall.”

He had to pay tax on it, nevertheless.

Suggested Armlet for Surveyors of Taxes Not too Proud!

But – not allowed!!

TO FIGHT!!!

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THE TRIAD BUILDING BOOTLE, SET TO CLOSE THIS YEAR.

50 YEARS AGO: JULY 1966 The Editorial of the July 1966 Quarterly Record began with the following observations on the Inland Revenue’s automation (i.e. computerisation) project: the “Building Our Future” of its day. The parallels are, in fact, quite striking.

Looking to the Future: Automation Last quarter we commented on Reform in the Civil Service, with particular reference to the setting up of the Fulton Committee. This quarter we turn to another major topic which the Association has to face in the immediate future: Automation. Within twelve months the computer designed to take over the Schedule E work in Scotland should have been installed in East Kilbride and testings commenced. In the autumn of 1967 the Schedule E work of the pioneer District, Hamilton, will be taken over and trial running will begin. By October 1969 the whole of the Scottish Schedule E work should have been transferred to the Centre.

Looking further ahead, the second Centre at Bootle, to accommodate the Schedule E work of the North West, has now become a firm project and Treasury approval granted on the basis of departmental costings. Following Bootle, tentative plans are afoot for the establishment of the third Centre at Llanishen to take the work of Wales and P.D., and a feasibility study is afoot to consider the London problem. The likelihood is that two Centres will deal with London’s P.A.Y.E., one situated in Manchester and the other in the outer suburbs of the Metropolis.

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THUS, WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT, AND IT MUST BE SAID THAT SOME OF OUR MEMBERS HAVE GRAVE DOUBTS ON THE WISDOM OF THE WHOLE PROJECT, THE BOARD ARE COMMITTED TO A TREMENDOUS VENTURE OF FAITH. The United Kingdom project will be completed with the establishment of a Centre for the North East, and probably three more dividing the work of the Midlands and South (other than the London area) between them. Thus, whether we like it or not, and it must be said that some of our members

have grave doubts on the wisdom of the whole project, the Board are committed to a tremendous venture of faith, all the more so because, whereas under the original scheme East Kilbride was to have been a pioneer exercise, firm plans have now been put in train for the setting up of the arcnews

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QUARTERLY RECORD

English Centre before any experience has been gained from the Scottish exercise. Where does the Association stand in relation to the project as a whole?

When the Barford Committee Report (which is a blueprint for the present scheme of automation) was made available to the Association in May 1963 three courses were open to us. The first was to co-operate with the Official Side, on the basis of full consultation at every stage, in a sincere endeavour to make the scheme work, bearing constantly in mind the first object of the Association, “To watch over and consider all matters, legislative and departmental, affecting the Service, with a view to safeguarding and promoting the interests of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Taxes.” The second was to stand idly by, and watch the scheme gradually go forward with a cynical regard for the inevitable difficulties which would arise and, Micawber-like, hope that eventually something would turn up to our advantage or perhaps, better still, that the whole thing would ultimately be abandoned as a failure.

The third course was to become the Luddites of the 1960s and actively attempt to obstruct technological progress at every opportunity. From the outset the Association has adopted the first of these courses in the belief that not only was it in the interests of our members to seek our full share of any benefits resulting from what, sooner or later, would be an inevitable development, but also because we had a positive contribution to make in effecting the introduction of automation as smoothly and efficiently as possible. arcnews

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25 YEARS AGO: JUNE 1991 The “Miscellany” section of the Quarterly Record for June 1991 contained the following spoof Management Memo MC40/91 dated, in a bit of a dead give-away, 1 April 1991. The cutting nature of the satire suggests a depth of disaffection comparable to that which is currently felt by long-serving officers contemplating pay scales which stretch infinitely before them, with no apparent means of progressing beyond the scale minimum.

New Performance Scheme for Senior Managers Readership: all senior inspectors at grade 6 and grade 5 Background: the new reporting system has had some criticism and it has been suggested that a quota has been operated through the downward adjustment of overall performance box gradings. The Board feels that these criticisms are unfounded. However it is the Board’s wish to ensure that its key managers’ efforts are properly recognised and so a new performance scheme is being introduced to encourage and reward those outstanding officers who have been correctly graded as an overall box 3.

Eligibility: all inspectors at grade 6 or 5 on 1 December 1990 and who at any time during the previous twelve months had management responsibilities may apply.

No other grades are eligible. An eligible officer must have been graded an overall box 3 on his annual report made in the year ending 1 December 1990.

Applications: all applications

by eligible officers must be made by »» Sending the application to the Director General, The Boardroom, by 1 June 1991 »» Certifying that the officer remains mobile »» Forwarding a statement from his Doctor that he is fit to travel.

Nature of Performance Bonuses: because of budgetary constraints the award will not be monetary. The travel industry is also facing its worst year for bookings for some time, thus it has been possible for the Board to purchase package holidays at a deep discount. These holidays will be offered to all eligible officers and must be taken during November 1991. Annual leave must be applied for in advance and will be subject to the needs of the office; all work must be fully up to date. This requirement applies only to officers in outlying locations as usual.

There is a list of locations and officers should state their preferences when applying. Spouses cannot accompany the officer although he or she may nominate someone else in the department to share the performance holiday awarded. The list of locations follows. And please note it is not exhaustive.

Baghdad, Beirut, Bhopal, Chernobyl, Kuwait City, West Falkland. •

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HELEN BAIRD-PARKER REPORTS ON THE FIRST TRIBUNAL HEARING ON ARC’S LONG-RUNNING EQUAL PAY CASE AGAINST HMRC.

Decision awaited on ARC’s equal pay case HELEN BAIRDPARKER

HOWEVER, EVEN IF YOU DO COMPARE MEN AND WOMEN WHO START ON THE SAME DAY AND HAVE IDENTICAL LENGTH OF SERVICE, WOMEN ARE CONSISTENTLY PAID LESS. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE CASE AND SHOWS NO SIGN OF CHANGING, YEAR ON YEAR.

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here was a preliminary hearing of ARC’s equal pay case in the Employment Tribunal on Kingsway from 14-18 March 2016. This was the culmination of several years’ work, but is still only the first step. At the time of writing in early May, we are still awaiting the outcome of the hearing – it’s due any time now. Only having to wait two months for a decision is something of a revelation because, as many of you will know, it’s often quite a lot slower in the tax tribunal!

The Employment Tribunal heard the witness evidence from our respective experts, Dr Alison Hall for us and Gary Brown of the ONS for HMRC, on the Tuesday, having had a reading day on the Monday (another revelation!). Then came our very own Tony Wallace and Terry Cook, and finally, the HMRC pay policy official. I wasn’t able to attend for main day of witness evidence as it was Budget day and I was working on the Finance Bill. But ARC’s team agree that Tony and Terry were able to get across plenty of useful information – and of course they made for calm, pleasant, professional witnesses which always helps. Our expert, Alison Hall, is a deep specialist in this subject area, and so was able to explain the position by reference

to her analysis of where in the pay scale men and women tend to be.

HMRC’s Counsel, Tom Linden QC, sought to demonstrate that employers such as HMRC cannot be expected to interrogate their data any further than conducting mean average analysis and comparing the pay of men and women who start at the same time. Our position is that we need to look at the distribution in the pay range, which relates to length of service, and that comparing men and women with the same length of service cannot be the right analysis to understand the issue. However, even if you do compare men and women who start on the same day and have identical length of service, women are consistently paid less. This has always been the case and shows no sign of changing, year on year.

I attended on Wednesday 16 March for the whole day. Terry and one of our claimants also attended. We first heard the end of HMRC’s witness evidence. HMRC had asserted in their evidence that any pay problem would resolve itself shortly because the people on the top of the pay scale would all retire in the next two years. Our Counsel, Ben Cooper, explored whether that can really be true given that there is no set retirement age, and HMRC would be unable to function if so many of our experienced staff actually left the department in the next two years – we are reliant on these people, and HMRC is, in reality, seeking to retain them, as you will all hear at BOF4. HMRC conceded that there will still be a cohort of people on the max, and that the distribution through the scale will remain the same. arcnews

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EXIT PAYMENTS

Our Counsel confirmed with HMRC that the clustering of men and women has been consistent over the last ten years and hasn’t changed over time. He pointed out that HMRC had developed a pay scale and then removed the means to progress through it.

HMRC maintained that range shortening and progression is an “aim”; which begged the question, why have a range shortening aim at all if not because long pay scales are associated with equal pay problems? HMRC also agreed that seeking to recruit and retain more women has nothing to do with pay, and that the Department hasn’t done anything to address pay.

Next came the legal submissions, starting with Tom Linden QC for HMRC. He started by saying, memorably, that Ben’s argument was “intellectually sophisticated” and “I mean that arcnews

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pejoratively”. He argued that we need to look at what people are “really” being paid, not distribution through the range (although we fail to see how the different amounts of pounds sterling people are receiving for the same work is not their actual pay!). His basic argument is that we can only compare people with the same length of service. He would really like to treat people who started pre-merger and people who started post-merger as two separate groups. Arguments around the proper pool of people to compare are quite common in equal pay. If HMRC can persuade the judge that we should compare to a different or smaller pool, it might make the situation look better from their perspective – and so that’s why they’re suggesting it.

They want to only ever look at mean average pay, because that

consistently shows around a 2% difference, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suggests in guidance that differences of 3-5% are usually statistically significant. However, there are a couple of problems with that. Although HMRC’s Counsel expounded at length on the EHRC guidance, it actually says lots of other things, such as that there is no set way to establish statistical significance, and that equal pay issues should be assessed not only through using averages, but also other tests like the “four-fifths rule”. That’s one HMRC roundly fails, because the number of women at the pay range maximum comes out far below 4/5ths of the number of men – at around 0.6.

In any case, the judge is not going to be deciding the case on the basis of non-binding guidance, regardless of what

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particular bits of it say. Even looking at a mean average comparing men and women who started at the same time, there’s still consistently at least a 2% difference, year on year, and it’s not closing. So even on their analysis, there’s a problem.

HMRC’s argument is that it’s all too complex and HMRC pay policy people shouldn’t have to use statistical techniques like chi square analysis. It remains to be seen if that will wash – HMRC is a huge complex Department, and as a matter of fact, it routinely uses chi square analysis. The judge piped up at one point to say, “You say I need to approach the figures as an educated layman, not an expert brandishing chi square analysis. But the numbers themselves are striking. But you say that they don’t tell a story?”

Linden QC then moved onto the case law. There’s a bit of a wrinkle here from our perspective in the form of a recent Court of Appeal decision in the case of Naeem v the Secretary of State for Justice. This case is about Muslim prison officers, who are disproportionately paid less than Christian officers because they started later.

This is because the Prison Service had no need of Muslim officers until 2004 and didn’t employ any. There are some unfortunate obiter dicta remarks by Underhill LJ about causation in indirect discrimination and, as it was a unanimous decision, it’s difficult to unscramble them from the decision. Essentially, it seems to import an element of direct discrimination into indirect discrimination – implying that the protected characteristic needs to have a causative link to the pay difference. Our case is distinguishable from Naeem – HMRC has always employed women – and there is binding authority from the ECJ which must mean that the remarks in Naeem are obiter dicta, but this casts a bit of uncertainty, and 24

the timing is unfortunate. Naeem is likely to go to appeal to the Supreme Court later this year, but at the moment our judge will need to decide consistently with it. So this quite probably means that, whatever the decision, there will be an appeal, because the law is in a state of flux Our Counsel, Ben Cooper, made his submissions in the afternoon. You will all be aware of the arguments by now – we argue that women in HMRC are disproportionately paid less, because they are later entrants. This is because HMRC (and the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise previously) were historically male dominated jobs – considered to be “men’s work”, and so women tend to be newer entrants.

This is due to historic attitudes to women in society. The other side has tried to argue that we would additionally need to show that women in HMRC are generally paid less due to childcare/maternity etc, but we say we don’t need to show that. The fact is they are paid less. Ben invited the Judge to draw an inference of indirect discrimination, based on this historic imbalance.

Ben made some technical points that showed how HMRC’s reading of the provisions was incorrect because it was conflating points which don’t

“YOU SAY I NEED TO APPROACH THE FIGURES AS AN EDUCATED LAYMAN, NOT AN EXPERT BRANDISHING CHI SQUARE ANALYSIS. BUT THE NUMBERS THEMSELVES ARE STRIKING. BUT YOU SAY THAT THEY DON’T TELL A STORY?”

apply in these cases. He then walked the judge through the case law which explains that the judge has flexibility to apply analysis in a suitable way to genuinely examine the problem, and that he does not need to be constrained by a narrow examination of mean averages. The judge agreed that the case law says he can use his own bespoke methodology. Ben encouraged the Tribunal to use the most illuminating method.

Ben explained a bit of a complex point which I think is a very good one.

He said most of the pay that everyone gets is the same, i.e. from £0 to the minimum (e.g. £54k for a Grade 7 in London). So if you take the first £54k out of it, and just look at the difference, i.e. the approximately £8k between the min and the max, that is the more real figure. The other £54k distorts the difference – and so the percentage difference will look small if you include it. If you pay people a discriminatory bonus of just £1, it’s still discrimination, after all. But the percentage is a lot more than 2% difference if you take out the part of the pay that everyone gets. So – in absolute terms the difference may look smaller because the chunk that everyone gets is quite large. But if you take it out, the disparity is quite big.

We finished at around 3:30pm and the judge explained that it would to take some time for him to write up his decision, especially as he had annual leave coming up. The ET usually gives a written decision within 28 days, but our lawyers have advised we are probably looking at at least two months here.

Whatever the result, it is quite likely that there will be an appeal of the point – and this is not even the main issue – whether our claimants have been indirectly discriminated against in their pay. So, we are all very positive but we have a long way to go yet! • arcnews

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ARC WEBSITE

today The new ARC website is now up and running at:

arcunion.org.uk Read the latest news, blogs and comment Get the latest on changes to pay, terms and conditions Get in touch with your local reps and committee members Flick through back issues of arcnews, information arc and members’ updates Join the discussion on the new ARC Forum Exchange ideas and comments with your fellow ARC members in our secure members’ area All members are automatically registered and you should have received your username and password by email. If you missed it, just email us with your FDA membership number and full name at registration@arcunion.org.uk and we’ll send you a reminder.

We’re continuing to develop the site and will be adding lots more content and features in the coming months. Please use the new ARC members’ forum let us know how we can improve the site and what else you’d like to see available online. Alternatively, email us at website@arcunion.org.uk.

Help us to develop the ARC website into a digital meeting place for members and help build the union for the future. arcnews

JUNE-JULY 2016: ISSUE 83

25

EVER-INCREASING WORKING HOURS MEANS MORE STRESS, TIREDNESS AND ILL-HEALTH, AND GROWING SHORTAGE OF PEOPLE WILLING TO TAKE ON SCS JOBS. BUT WE CAN DO SOMETHING, SAYS EUGENE MITCHELL.

Working to live, or living to work?

EUGENE MITCHELL

THE COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THE SURVEY ARE SOME OF THE SADDEST, MOST DEPRESSING THINGS I’VE READ IN A VERY LONG TIME. AMONG THE CONSEQUENCES FOR INDIVIDUALS ARE TIREDNESS, STRESS, IRRITABILITY, POOR DIET, POOR SLEEPING AND AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON DOMESTIC LIFE.

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A

nother year, another Senior Salaries Review Body report on SCS pay and another statement from the Prime Minister. And another year with no significant movement on SCS pay.

Details of how our FDA recommendations were dealt with are covered in the FDA’s April SCS newsletter. We called for a one off realignment increase to pay, as was implemented for MPs. However, the SSRB rejected this, arguing there was insufficient evidence of recruitment and retention difficulties to warrant it. That’s quite a contrast to the position for MPs’ salaries where recruitment and retention difficulties just do not apply.

The SSRB’s point about insufficient evidence of recruitment difficulties doesn’t ring true in my experience. One of the things we’re expected to do in the SCS is to nurture and coach talent, to bring on new blood to perform even better than the current cadre.

In my neck of the woods, there are two competitions underway for SCS posts at the time of writing and I’ve been encouraging certain colleagues to apply for these on

promotion. I don’t approach these people at random. I’ve ensured that they have had the opportunities to develop the necessary competences and I’m confident that they would do really well in these SCS posts. They’re equally confident. But they’re also adamant that neither these, nor any other SCS posts, are for them. In essence this is due to the rewards not being remotely commensurate with the additional expectations, responsibilities and hassles. And this is a point that, given the last eight years’ experience on pay, I cannot in honesty rebut.

In fact, it’s an issue that applies across the FDA grades – as borne out by the responses to the most recent FDA working hours survey, and by experience on a recent external Grade 7 recruitment exercise where two candidates were successful and both declined their offers, one because of the terms and conditions, particularly the initial annual leave entitlement, on offer.

The comments in response to the working hours survey are some of the saddest, most depressing things I’ve read in a very long time. There are some common themes coming from the 683 people who provided white box comments on the adverse effects of long hours working and there will be an article on this in the FDA magazine in due course. Key among the consequences for individuals are tiredness, stress, irritability, poor diet, poor sleeping and an adverse impact on domestic life. I can certainly hold my hands up to all of those.

As one respondent commented, “If everything comes down to earning money but there is no time to enjoy it, why are we arcnews

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SCS: WORKING HOURS LAST

bothering?” It seems clear that more and more of us are living to work rather than working to live, and that there is no equilibrium in the work/life balance.

However it’s also clear, to me at least, that if there is a will then something can be done about long hours. We could start by ensuring we each know exactly what hours we work. As another respondent noted “Once it becomes a habit, keeping a timesheet is empowering” – music to the ears of this accountant!

Another comment really struck a chord with me: “Long hours become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As an issue becomes more critical then more people want to know about progress (generates more work) and even simple tasks become more contentious and senior colleagues demand more advice. There is little organisational discipline which allows those working on critical and difficult tasks to concentrate on getting the job done instead of reporting on progress [my emphasis].” Do we put more effort into how information is presented in order to make it palatable than we do into the substance of the underlying issue? Is this really speaking truth unto power?

In addition to ensuring we are all properly focusing on priorities and not fixating solely on presentation, there are individual coping mechanisms which a number of people reported about. Again, some of these struck a chord with me.

The first seems quite straightforward but clearly a lot of us struggle to do it – switch off your mobile/Blackberry when you’re not working. In some areas of the Civil Service turning off your mobile is apparently frowned upon and technology has resulted in staff being increasingly expected to be contactable outside work hours. If this is the dividend we’re getting from our investment in IT then a) it’s not worth it, and b) it’s not working. We’re supposed to use these to work smarter, not longer. I certainly switch my Blackberry off at weekends (although I will switch it back on on Sunday evening to remind me of what I’m doing and where I’m going the following arcnews

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day). I would certainly never dream of taking it on holiday – and if I did our Data Guardians would rightly be concerned.

Working compressed hours is an effective coping mechanism according to respondents. It works for me. I still work significantly more than my contracted hours but I book my tenth day off in my nine-day fortnights well in advance and ensure I always take it; although it’s a moveable feast to suit business needs, that gives me no problem whatsoever.

Another coping mechanism that respondents reported, and which, again, works well for me, is to plan leave well in advance, book it in my calendar, and take it.

As one respondent said, “rather than trying to fit leave around work, make work fit around leave”. I joined the department in 1998 and since then have never worked in the period between Christmas and New Year. When I return to work after that period, one of the first things I do is plan and book most of my leave for the new calendar year. Of course on occasion I have subsequently changed the dates – but that’s because my holiday plans had changed.

There are other, more extreme, ideas that respondents suggested, including retiring or resigning. Others noted that if we each simply worked our conditioned hours there would be a huge resource shortage, departments wouldn’t be able to function, and there would have to be a response from the employer. The reality for very many of us is that the public service ethos is so strong that we would find it difficult to cut back to such an extent. And in those circumstances it’s not surprising that the employer isn’t rushing to do much about working smarter rather than longer – although I’ve no doubt that new technology could be a great enabler of this.

However we are all senior people, and we have it in our gift to do something about this individually. I’ve set out a few suggestions of what we each could do. Why not try them? And let me know of other techniques that work for you – and could work for all colleagues. • 27

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