On Thursday November 12th the HMRC Executive Committee (ExCom) announced its future location strategy. This included proposals to close the current 170 HMRC offices and cut these to 13 large Regional Centres in Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, and two in London (Croydon and Stratford), plus 4 “Specialist Sites”.

PCS opposes the closure plan proposals, we do not feel that a service run from larger Regional Centres will be better than with large national coverage. We fear that the disruption to the UK’s essential tax collection capability will be severe. Also there are major concerns with the negative impact on local employment and local economies.

PCS is extremely concerned that these proposals have received no Parliamentary Scrutiny at all, and it is demanding that they now receive such scrutiny before they go any further. PCS is also asking and expecting that HMRC will now enter in proper consultation with PCS on the principle and impact of their change proposals.

For the latest news on the HMRC story visit the PCS website here.

Read the BBC list of office closure dates here.