NI Tax Workers Hold One-Day Strike

Tax workers in Northern Ireland are staging a one-day strike today, 1st August, over job cuts.

This week, staff walkouts have affected HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in England, Scotland and Wales. The move has coincided with the deadline for tax credit renewals, as well as a key date for self-assessment taxation payments.

It also follows a week of rolling strikes by HMRC workers in June.

The union who organised the walkout, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), has argued that years of job cuts have left the organisation unable to cope with increasing demands on the service, resulting in delays on telephone lines, large backlogs of post and private debt collectors also being used.

A number of tax enquiry offices in NI are threatened with closure, as well as offices across Great Britain. HMRC is also planning to cut some 2,000 posts across the UK, despite a staff shortfall.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary at PCS, said: "HMRC plays an essential role in our economy and our society, collecting the taxes that fund the other public services we all rely on. But it is being systematically undermined by unnecessary and politically-motivated cuts.

"These strikes demonstrate we are serious about stopping these damaging cuts and making a positive case for proper investment in this crucial department."

(JP/CD)