PCS: Union anger over more revenue and customs office closures

12 June 2008 (Immediate Release)

"The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) reacted angrily to today’s announcement by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) proposing to close a further 95 offices across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland affecting up to 12,300 staff serving some of the remotest communities in the UK. 
The union warned that the ability of the department to collect revenues and provide tax advice to the public and local businesses would be further undermined by the closures. Services are already suffering in HMRC with a drive to axe 25,000 jobs and close over 200 offices, leading to backlogs of work and poor staff morale." 

With an estimated £42 billion in tax going uncollected and corporate tax avoidance totalling over £11.8 billion a year. The government 's commissioned Poynter report clearly recommended “….. …. HMRC, rather than being solely savings-driven in its business case, should also evaluate the opportunity to redeploy staff towards yield improving compliance activities – building the business case based on yield improvement rather than staff reduction.”

Inspite of all this evidence, your local tax office in Bury St Edmunds is scheduled to close. This office has always given the local population, businesses and other professionals an efficient, dedicated and expert service.  The staff are mostly local, taking pride in their work and their town.  They contribute to the local economy by spending their money in local shops.  A lot of the staff are female, part time and have caring responsibilities.  How does it make sense to take a functioning office out of a thriving town targeted for further growth by both the local and national governments?

Bury St Edmunds is situated at the heart of the East Anglian growth area to accommodate movement out of London and the south east and along the A14 high-tech corridor with a combined population (from 2001 Census) for St Edmundsbury, Forest Heath and Breckland council areas alone of over 275,000 this does not include Sudbury and Stowmarket which are part of Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils respectively or Ely which of course is part of Cambridgeshire Council. It has excellent road, rail and coach links. Such a large area needs a tax office that is local, with local knowledge. The Bury Free Press has commented on the plans to close the Tax Office in it's front page article on 24 July 2008.  

We, the staff and PCS members of the Bury St Edmunds Tax Office ask each of you to support our campaign, Save Our Bury Tax Office (SOBTO).  Please write to your local councillors, the MP for Bury St Edmunds, Mr David Ruffley and the Regeneration Office of the St Edmundsbury Council and other local councils. You can also send letters to our dedicated email address, saveourburytaxoffice@yahoo.co.uk so that we can use these letters in support of our proposals to HMRC's Workforce Change Team for the East. 

If the tax office closes, Bury St Edmunds loses.  Help us all win. Keep your local services local, keep the Bury St Edmunds tax office open.