HMRC Doesn’t Check if Own Staff Are Working as Taxman Given Extra Snooping Powers – Guido Fawkes

REVEALED: HMRC Doesn’t Check if Own Staff Are Working as Taxman Given Extra Snooping Powers

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At the same time as privacy campaigners sound the alarm over plans for HMRC to snoop on private bank accounts the tax collector admits it can’t be bothered to track what its own employees are up to. No surprise there…

In response to questioning by Guido’s FoI Unit HMRC says it “does not undertake any additional monitoring of on-screen activity for colleagues when working from home than when they work in an HMRC office.” 27% of tax office staff were not in the office in the first quarter of the year…

The taxman pleads in his defence: “Although HMRC does not use any surveillance software to monitor colleagues who are working from home our general software enables us to identify when colleagues are online, or not.” Easily gamed and useless information…

It also confirms it does not “record reports, notifications or disciplinary notifications specifically relating to the on-screen activity of staff working from home.” Probably because there are none…

The Spring Statement meanwhile confirmed plans for HMRC to directly access bank accounts to confiscate owed debt as civil servants are given sweeping new powers to snoop on private citizens’ activities. Qui custodiet…