The Public Value Award Shortlist

Programmes and Projects Team, HM Revenue & Customs

In January 2010 Lesley Strathie announced the impending closure of 130 offices following HMRC’s business reorganisation and resultant campus-based estate strategy. Those closures excluded Enquiry Centres (ECs), recognising the HMRC strategic commitment to maintain local public services.

HMRC Programmes & Projects Team’s (P&P) challenge was to relocate staff, maximise estate savings and maintain an essential public-facing service offering tax and tax credit advice and support from a network of local offices, in a way that could improve its accessibility.

HMRC’s PFI contract provided scope to leave existing EC facilities in situ and vacate the rest of the building. This risk-free approach avoided any break in service and could be easily planned and delivered. However, P&P recognised that this missed an opportunity to realise significantly greater savings, enhancements to customer service and increased synergies with other government departments and Local Authorities. How? By seeking to co-locate ECs with Job Centre Plus, Local Authority ‘one stop shops’ within available surplus space on the wider civil estate.

P&P negotiated with internal and external stakeholders and successfully delivered 102 co-locations, achieving annual savings of £15.8m to HMRC (£63m by 2014/15), reduced utility charges and CO2 emissions, together with estate reductions of 83,000m².