Government systems do not inspire confidence

Technology does not deliberately attempt to manipulate a process. People, on the other hand, have the ability to make poor systems work and good systems fail.

Take the self-assessment income tax software supplied by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). I use this software in the expectation that it is fit for purpose. Not so. This year I detected three significant errors.

Initially, it did not take any notice of any declared foreign income, which was quite surprising in view of the government’s publicity campaign to persuade us to declare such income. This was, however, quite swiftly rectified.

Next, the PDF copy of what I was submitting did not agree with what I had input. This means I do not have a true record of what I have submitted. I have received a fulsome apology from HMRC for this, but the fault still remains unrectified since I first reported it last September. Third, the actual tax year for payments made on account is incorrect. I have reported this too, but have had no acknowledgement.

I used the Freedom of Information Act to ask how many software errors had been detected in the previous 12 months and how many remained outstanding. A commendably swift response revealed that 70 software errors had been reported, of which 25 were still outstanding.

Remember, this is live software being used by citizens to declare their earnings. I asked the helpdesk staff if they had an alternative method as I could not be certain what I entered was what HMRC received. Yes, they said, I could submit a paper return.

I pointed out that the deadline for paper submissions had passed. Never mind, they said, just attach a note explaining things and perhaps my local tax office would look kindly on me. The subsequent reminder informed me that it was unlikely I would be charged interest on any late tax I owed.

So you use software provided by the government at your peril. It may contain known errors, but you will not be informed.

John Mitchell is a member of the BCS Specialist Groups Executive Committee