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Responding to the new Public Accounts Committee report on HMRC, Vicky Johnson, President of the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC), which represents managers and professionals in the department, said:

“This report shows how HMRC staff have been working flat out over the past year to reduce the tax gap, redesign key systems, and prepare for the mammoth task of leaving the EU - all while continuing to suffer real-terms cuts to their own pay.

“HMRC staff work every day to bring in the money needed to fund vital public services, but the Committee is clear that the sheer scale of the workload facing the department means it 'now faces difficult decisions on how best to use its limited resources', with HMRC already running at full capacity as it meets existing commitments.

"Instead of piling more pressure on HMRC staff, ministers should properly invest in the department, giving it the resources it needs to keep cracking down on evasion and avoidance. And they should put a stop to years of wrong-headed public sector pay policy that have hindered HMRC’s ability to recruit and retain the experts it needs."

Notes for editors

1. The Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) is the union which represents senior staff in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK, including tax professionals, accountants, lawyers, managers, statisticians and other professionals.
   ARC is a professional association and an independent trade union. It is also a section of a wider union, FDA, which acts as a voice for the UK’s senior managers and professionals in public service.
2. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as "The FDA" and can be described as "the senior public servants' union".
3. ARC can be found on Twitter @ARC_Union. The FDA can be found on Twitter @FDA_union and at www.fda.org.uk.
4. For further information contact:

ARC/FDA out-of-hours communications on 07982 514 524