A note of thanks to our civil servants

Just a month ago, we could not have imagined the position the country would now be in as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. As explained in our guidance, the government has announced unprecedented support for employees and businesses, aimed at easing the economic impacts of the self-isolation and social distancing measures required to shield the population – and particularly the most vulnerable – from the disease.

Civil servants are working around the clock to try to deliver the support that has been announced. We should remember that it is not an easy task to produce, almost overnight, systems and processes to get support to people who desperately need it. Especially when they themselves have a reduced workforce as a result of the current situation.

For instance, we might compare it to creative thinking tasks that those of us with children at home might be setting for home-schooling, such as: “Invent a new country and list out its laws”.

Social media posts are crammed with examples of children coming up with some fantastic ideas in answer to this kind of question. It becomes infinitely more difficult, however, when deciding exactly how to implement the new rules and answering points of finer detail.

How do you police the system? If you create one rule, how does it interact with another? Do your rules cover everyone they need to? How can computer systems be designed – and quickly – to put them in place?

Our civil servants are faced with implementing a host of new rules without much time to consider the fine detail, putting in place systems in a few days or weeks that might under normal circumstances take years of planning and consultation with external bodies (including ourselves).  

LITRG would like to thank HMRC and their Treasury colleagues, in particular, for the efforts they have made so far to get guidance out on the support that is being offered. And for being willing to engage with us and give us the opportunity to ask questions which ultimately will help the right support and the right information to reach those who need it.

We know that the schemes may not cover every set of circumstances and we will continue to highlight areas of particular concern on behalf of those we represent. We also know that the guidance does not yet answer many of the questions that are being asked, but we hope by working together it can be expanded over the next few weeks. However, that does not stop us all taking time out to recognise the important work being done by civil servants in helping to keep the country’s wheels turning at this difficult time. 

We at LITRG stand ready, as ever, to work with them and support this work in any way we can.