A LEADING civil service trade union has called for the Scottish Government to join their call for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to halt its programme of office closures.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said that under the plans, tax office in Inverness, Aberdeen and Dundee would be relocated to the Central Belt, leaving large areas of the population without a tax office within reasonable travelling distance.

HMRC’s Jim Harra told Holyrood’s Finance and Constitution committee last week that a “key part” of HMRC’s transformation is “efficiency savings” that would come from the introduction of digital services.

However, PCS said that recent IT failures, including that of HMRC IT services to decrease demands on staff time, have led to cause for concern from union members.

It said the closure programme, combined with the uncertainties of Brexit, could negatively impact on the delivery of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax.

The National Audit Office this week revealed the department had failed to identify 420,000 potential Scottish taxpayers, which the PCS said raised the question of whether HMRC’s digitalisation agenda was compatible with effective tax delivery.

Lynn Henderson, its national officer, said: “HMRC bosses have a poor record dealing with organisation change. The idea that HMRC’s digitalisation programme could replace the staff in these offices and at the same time successfully delivering the new Scottish Rate of Income Tax is just pure fantasy.

“If the Scottish Government want a tax system that is well functioning, they should join our call to demand that HMRC halt these catastrophic plans.

“Our members in HMRC want the service to be modernised and improved. This is clearly not the way to do it.”