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Which HMRC team is bigger - Covid-19 or Loan Charge?
Source: WhatDoTheyKnow
Authority: HM Revenue and Customs
Status: The request was
successful
.
Imported path: /opt/loancharge/imports/wdtk/requests/which_hmrc_team_is_bigger_covid
Open original request on WhatDoTheyKnow
Imported text
SOURCE: WhatDoTheyKnow
SOURCE_URL: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/which_hmrc_team_is_bigger_covid
TITLE: Which HMRC team is bigger - Covid-19 or Loan Charge?
AUTHORITY: HM Revenue and Customs
AUTHORITY_URL: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/hmrc
STATUS: The request was
successful
.
REQUEST_SLUG: which_hmrc_team_is_bigger_covid
CAPTURED_AT: 2026-05-19T07:25:38+00:00
PROVENANCE: {"first_seen_at": "2026-05-18T12:53:21", "first_seen_page": "1", "first_query_term": "\"Loan Charge\"", "first_date_after": "2020/01/01", "first_date_before": "2021/01/01", "matched_query_terms": "\"Loan Charge\" | \"disguised remuneration\"", "matched_date_ranges": "2020/01/01 to 2021/01/01", "first_search_url_template": "https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/search/%22Loan%20Charge%22/requests?commit=Filter&query=%22Loan+Charge%22&request_date_after=2020%2F01%2F01&request_date_before=2021%2F01%2F01&request_variety%5B%5D=sent&request_variety%5B%5D=response&request_variety%5B%5D=comment&sortby=&utf8=%E2%9C%93&page="}
ATTACHMENTS:
- FOI2020_00740_Mr_Phillip_Harris.pdf | https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/which_hmrc_team_is_bigger_covid/response/1572323/attach/3/FOI2020%2000740%20Mr%20Phillip%20Harris.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1 | application/pdf | 176743 bytes
- [not downloaded] | https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/which_hmrc_team_is_bigger_covid/response/1572323/attach/html/3/FOI2020%2000740%20Mr%20Phillip%20Harris.pdf.html | | 0 bytes
================================================================================
MESSAGE 1 [outgoing]
HEADER: Philip Harris
18 April 2020
Delivered
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear HM Revenue and Customs,
I am lead to believe that you have a bigger team working to collect the retrospective tax known as the Loan Charge (which affects, in your numbers, 50,000 people) than you do to help the UK through covid-19 (affecting over 65,000,000 people! of which >2,500,000 are self-employed and struggling to get support)
On a per week basis since Monday 3rd February 2020 please provide the team sizes - I expect to see, at this stage a 3 column table. The left most would be the applicable date, the middle one the Loan Charge team size and the rightmost one the covid-19 team size.
There should be a row for each date (eg 3rd, 10th, 17th of February through March and into April and May)
By team size I mean total headcount per team on that day - if someone only works a half, a third or a quarter of that day their fractional time should be included.
I will help you out with the first few rows
3rd Feb, ????, 0
10th Feb, ????, 0
Since you have 20 days to comply I expect the last date to be at least
10th April,????,????
Yours faithfully,
Phil
================================================================================
MESSAGE 2 [incoming]
HEADER: foi.team@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk on behalf of FOI Team,
HM Revenue and Customs
20 April 2020
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our ref: FOI2020/00740
Dear Mr Harris,
Freedom of Information Act 2000 Acknowledgement
Thank you for your communication of 18th April which has been passed to
HMRC's Freedom of Information Team.
We have allocated the above reference which you should quote if you need
to contact us.
The Team will arrange for a reply to be sent to you which will either
comply with HMRC's obligations under Freedom of Information Act or, if we
think it's an enquiry that we don't need to address under the terms of the
Act, let you know why. If it is the latter we will, if possible, pass it
on to a more appropriate part of the Department for answer.
As you will appreciate, the coronavirus pandemic has provided
unprecedented challenges for Government Departments including HMRC. Over
the coming weeks our priorities are to provide critical existing and new
Public Services for Government to support customers during this difficult
time. As a result, resources may be diverted away from usual compliance or
information rights work. HMRC aims to respond to all FOIA Requests within
20 working days. If for whatever reason this timescale cannot be complied
with HMRC will, where possible, write to you explaining the reason for the
delay and providing an estimated time for response.
Yours sincerely
HMRC Freedom of Information Act Team
================================================================================
MESSAGE 3 [incoming]
HEADER: foi.team@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk on behalf of FOI Team,
HM Revenue and Customs
14 May 2020
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Attachment
FOI2020 00740 Mr Phillip Harris.pdf
172K
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Dear Mr Harris,
Please find attached our response to your information request.
Yours sincerely,
HMRC Freedom of Information Team
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ATTACHMENT TEXT EXTRACTION / OCR
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ATTACHMENT: FOI2020_00740_Mr_Phillip_Harris.pdf
TEXT_FILE: FOI2020_00740_Mr_Phillip_Harris.pdf.txt
METHOD: pdf_native
OCR_USED: False
PAGES: 2
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--- PDF page 1 ---
Information is available in large print, audio and Braille formats.
Text Relay service prefix number – 18001
Freedom of Information Team
S1715
6 Floor
Central Mail Unit
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ
Mr Philip Harris
By email:
request-659678-74bed27b@whatdotheyknow.com
Email
foi.request@hmrc.gov.uk
Web
www.gov.uk
Date: 14 May 2020
Our ref:
FOI2020/00740
Dear Mr Harris
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Thank you for your request, which was received on 18 April, for the following information:
“I am lead to believe that you have a bigger team working to collect the retrospective tax
known as the Loan Charge (which affects, in your numbers, 50,000 people) than you do to
help the UK through covid-19 (affecting over 65,000,000 people! of which >2,500,000 are
self-employed and struggling to get support)
On a per week basis since Monday 3rd February 2020 please provide the team sizes - I
expect to see, at this stage a 3 column table. The left most would be the applicable date, the
middle one the Loan Charge team size and the rightmost one the covid-19 team size.
There should be a row for each date (eg 3rd, 10th, 17th of February through March and into
April and May)
By team size I mean total headcount per team on that day - if someone only works a half, a
third or a quarter of that day their fractional time should be included.
I will help you out with the first few rows
3rd Feb, ????, 0
10th Feb, ????, 0
Since you have 20 days to comply I expect the last date to be at least
10th April,????,????”
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) employees do not record time spent on specific tasks
undertaken in this way. We therefore do not hold the information you seek.
Although we are unable to answer your request, we can advise that HMRC has substantially
more people working on the COVID-19 response than on the Loan Charge. By way of
example, a report published in March 2019 stated that there was the equivalent of over 500
HMRC full-time staff working directly or indirectly on work related to disguised remuneration;
in comparison HMRC will have up to 10,200 staff manning our phone lines and webchat
services in support of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
If you are not satisfied with this reply you may request a review within two months by
emailing foi.review@hmrc.gov.uk, or by writing to the address at the top right-hand side of
this letter.
--- PDF page 2 ---
2
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review you can complain to the
Information Commissioner’s Office.
Yours sincerely,
HM Revenue and Customs