HMRC is hiring internally among civil servants only for a “Senior Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant.” Here’s the Public Accounts Committee report on HMRC from last year, concerning performance in the election year:
“Average call waiting times exceeded 23 minutes. HMRC says it has not been adequately resourced to meet telephone demand from customers.”
For up to £72,711 the hire – which is not advertised to non-public sector workers – will “play a key role in shaping an inclusive and respectful workplace that reflects the communities we serve.” They will additionally engage “with HR colleagues, business areas, Staff Diversity Networks and senior stakeholders to influence decision-making, manage complex issues and drive improvement.” Pretty penny for chatting to diversity networks…
Essential criteria include “knowledge of equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI equality legislation and the protected characteristics.”
Non-essential but desirable criteria: “Experience of working within government, HR, people strategy or policy environments… Experience of working with trade unions, staff networks or employee representative groups.” Coddle with the trade union pilgrims…
To be fair to the taxman their call answer rates have improved. From April 2025 to March 2026 HMRC cleared 79.4% of post within 15 working days against an 80% target and 89.0% within 40 working days against a 95% target. 3.2 million items went unanswered beyond three working weeks. On the phones, advisers scraped past their 85% target by a tenth of a point while keeping callers waiting an average of 12 minutes 35 seconds, with almost half of all callers held for over ten minutes, adding up to around 390 years of collective hold time in a single year. Equality under the boredom…
Burnham confirms he spoke to Trump last night about drilling in the North Sea:
“I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here. There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that. Hence, me indicating that to the president…”