Revenue and Customs: Reorganisation

(asked on 26th March 2019) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC is paying rent on sites that have (a) been vacated by its staff and (b) where there is no active HMRC work being carried out.


Answered by
Mel Stride Portrait
Mel Stride
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This question was answered on 1st April 2019

Since November 2015, when HMRC announced its ten-year location strategy which will see it become a tax authority fit for the future, it has closed 76 of the 170 offices which it occupied at that time.

Of the 76 offices, 72 were managed under the STEPS Private Finance Initiative contract. Of the 72 offices under the STEPS contract, 58 were not Mapeley freehold properties. There were four offices which were not under the STEPS contract.

When HMRC vacates an office in accordance with its operational requirements, it would seek to dispose of the building following any remedial work which needed to be completed. It may choose to retain the building if other government departments are based at the location and are funding the remaining lease. HMRC is not paying rent on any of the 76 offices which have been vacated since November 2015 and none of them have been left unoccupied.

HMRC also manages properties on behalf of other government departments where there is no HMRC presence and those departments pay HMRC for the use of the building.

HMRC continues to support staff through its transformation. For those who can move it is providing payments towards increases in travel costs paid for up to five years, and for those who cannot move with HMRC it continues to seek opportunities in other government departments, in addition to any support with upskilling where relevant. HMRC wants to keep as many employees as possible and through one-to-one conversations with managers it will explore smarter ways of working and flexibility with working hours where this is possible. Moving to regional centres will save around £300 million up to 2025 with annual cash savings of around £90 million from 2028, while improving customer service and modernising how HMRC works.

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