Things The Public Should Know (Part 7000!)

Dealing with any high level of bureaucracy is a bit like entering the Twilight Zone. When it comes to dealing with HMRC I can hear Rod Serling's voice saying:"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."

Last year I wrote, on this blog, on Gavin's board and on 5Live, that HMRC had lost a whole year's records of National Insurance contributions, the year in question being 2004-5. After an internal investigation HMRC decided that they couldn't find the records which had been submitted and logged they had, to borrow one of my colleagues favourite phrases when talking about computers, "vanished into the ether." Long long after this became public knowledge, and I'm sure it wasn't entirely without coincidence, the number of qualifying years required for entitlement to a full state pension was reduced from forty to thirty. Now in the big scheme of things missing one years N.I contributions doesn't amount to a whole hill of beans, that's not the point though is it, the burden of proof of entitlement swung back from the collection agency to the contributor and how many people honestly keep every P60 they have received during their entire working life? Even Tax Consultants and Accountants draw the line somewhere when it comes to keeping sheets of paper.

Anyway the HMRC have now surpassed that with something that not only smacks of incompetence at the highest level but raises serious, and I do mean serious, questions about the ability of any Government department to maintain personal records - my paranoia on the health issues posting seems quite justified. A cock-up, data loss, departmental misunderstanding, call it what you like has just come to light that really defies belief. HMRC have known about this 'problem' for a year and have admitted this past week that it will take them another year to get to the bottom of it and then there is no guarantee that the problem will have been solved either partly or in its entirety, the problem is this: a 'glitch' in the HMRC computer has resulted in the details of anybody being entered on the system as self-employed over writing the details of anybody all ready on the system who is the same sex and same date of birth.

So a male, born on 18th May 1990 for arguments sake, who is already on the system as self employed, either as a sole proprietor or partner in a business will disappear without trace if another male born on 18th May 1990 is entered on the HMRC computer. Not only that but the first person on the system will have all his details erased, plus the details of the agent acting for him will vanish, his personal tax history will go and his accountants won't know about this until they contact HMRC for some information only to be told that no authority is held and so it won't be possible to reinstate the person concerned unless he/she personally contacts HMRC.

It's a disaster in terms of data security, not so much a case of information being left on a train, on a table at Starbucks etc but the removal of personal data which has the result that a person becomes a non-person through no fault of his own. Now some people might welcome this as a good thing, the less information held the better will be one view but I think that's overlooking the fact that this information was on a computer in the first place. If a 'bug' can exist within HMRC, which as far as I know is the second biggest database in the U.K after the NHS, that is capable of this, then the scope of data interference is vast within any department of the Civil Service.