Corporate report

HMRC engagement forums best practice guidelines

Updated 5 August 2025

About this guidance

This guidance has been developed following the review of HMRC engagement forums. It provides an outline of what you can expect as a member of a HMRC external engagement forum. 

Background

The review of HMRC engagement forums is an action taken from the HMRC Stakeholder Conference in February 2023.

HMRC recognises the importance and value of working with a wide range of external stakeholders with a shared purpose of creating a modern and trusted tax administration system. As external stakeholders or partners, you help us understand the impact of changes. We are able to learn from your experience and expertise and we can widen our reach to test ideas, communications, and customer understanding. 

Effective engagement also assists in building trust and increased transparency into the tax system and help us monitor our progress on embedding core principles set out in the HMRC Charter as we focus on delivering our strategic objectives. 

HMRC is committed to working in a collaborative way with intermediaries in order to successfully achieve those goals - so it is critical that the engagement landscape is clear, understood and effective.  

Purpose

The purpose of this guidance is to assist you, as external stakeholders, understand how HMRC is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of HMRC Engagement Forums, and enhance your effective participation.

How to use this guidance

Tiers

While the aim for all forums is to achieve their stated objectives, we recognise that there may be specific requirements that apply to some forums according to their level. To draw the distinction between them, a recommendation from the review is to nominally assign ‘tiers’ to each forum to enable their appropriate administration. This is further explained below.   

Tier one

The highest tier, typically chaired at Director General or Director level, provides a high-level oversight and platform for a strategic dialogue between HMRC and senior representatives of external stakeholders, focusing on HMRC’s performance in delivering its strategic objectives.

Tier 2

The intermediate tier, often chaired at Deputy or Assistant Director level, provides more in-depth discussions with knowledgeable and empowered external stakeholders, usually with an operational or policy focus.

Tier 3

The lower-level forum, usually chaired by a senior HMRC manager, provides opportunities for detailed consultation and co-creation with knowledgeable and technical external stakeholders, often focusing on technical or process related matters.

Information sharing levels

Level one

Information can be shared openly with forum members, and their colleagues, clients and members, allowing them to amplify HMRC messages. Examples include updates on news items, policy changes, operational updates, public consultations, and so on.

Level 2

Information can be shared with forum members, and trusted colleagues and volunteers where they can provide expertise/specialist knowledge to enhance their feedback. This information cannot be shared wider without HMRC prior consent. Examples include draft guidance documents shared for feedback, cocreation where HMRC is seeking feedback on emerging policies and tools, Policy Driven Change feedback collaboration, and so on.    

Level 3

Information can be shared with forum members and trusted close colleagues due to their expertise to enhance their feedback. This information cannot be shared wider without HMRC prior consent. Examples include sharing strategic direction, emerging policies.

‘In the room’ discussions

Information must not ‘leave the room’ or be shared wider beyond those attending without express permission from HMRC. Examples include sharing restricted information for feedback, advance notice of changes, embargoed communications, and so on.

See Annex below for guidance table.

Conflict of Interest

Where an agenda topic or information shared may give rise to a potential conflict of interest for the individual representative, or the organisation they represent, you should:

• make the forum secretariat and chair aware
• operate in accordance with your professional body’s ethical requirements and your organisation’s or firm’s policies around handling conflicts of interest

In advance of each meeting, or prior to sharing information, HMRC Forum secretariats will endeavour to highlight the information sharing level related to each item. If in doubt, please contact the secretariat in advance of the event.

Best practice guidance - what you can expect

1. Creation

We need to ensure forum purpose is clearly understood and that there’s sufficient departmental coverage without duplication.

You should expect:

• forums to have a purpose and objectives established, with no duplication of forums
• clarity of the forum level: Tier 1 - strategic or directional; Tier 2 - policy or operational; Tier 3 - working or project level and if it is a subgroup of a main forum
• all Tier 1 and select Tier 2 forums registered on GOV.UK
• clear Terms of Reference agreed with members, setting out details about membership, purpose, meeting format, frequency, agendas, minutes and actions for repeated non-attendance

We expect you to:

• abide by the Terms of Reference

2. Membership

It’s important to have equitable representation from across the target population to ensure all voices are heard.

There is no optimum number as it will depend on the purpose of the forum and style of engagement.

You should expect:

• membership to be balanced and representative of the target population, with members having sufficient knowledge and experience to contribute to the forum
• the size of the forum be suitable to enable opportunity for all attendees to participate fully
• membership to be reviewed on a regular basis
• HMRC to consider whether membership causes a member a potential conflict of interest
• where appropriate, due diligence checks for external members to avoid potential risks to HMRC and government reputation
• final decisions relating to membership to be made by HMRC

We expect you to:

• represent and speak on behalf of your organisation, or in the capacity in which you are attending, not from your personal viewpoint
• allow and respect other members views
• flag any potential conflict of interest from your perspective

3. Administration

For a successful forum, feedback from the review highlighted the importance of having an effective chairperson.

You should expect:

• the chairperson to have the right capability and level of strategic or technical knowledge to be credible and effective, with sufficient authority to ensure insights are actioned to achieve solutions
• an effective secretariat function to support the forum, with meeting invites, agenda, papers and minutes shared on time per the Terms of Reference

We expect you to:

• regularly attend meetings or send apologies (or a deputy) if you are unavailable
• provide timely responses to administrative requests
• notify the secretariat if you change your representative or wish to withdraw from the forum

4. Forum meeting principles

For a healthy and productive forum, all members should be professional, respectful and courteous.

You should expect:

• meetings to be professional and courteous - mutual respect to be shown to all attendees
• agenda and documents (including slides or other materials to be used during the meeting, where possible) to be shared digitally before the meeting date per the Terms of Reference
• those speaking to have cameras on with any materials presented on screen, where possible
• notes of meetings to be captured and shared in line with the Terms of Reference
• action points to be progressed and tracked, with updates at each meeting

We expect you to:

• actively participate in meetings
• be respectful and kind - treat everyone with respect and trust, even if you have a different view or disagree with them
• have read materials in advance and, where appropriate, gathered viewpoints from the organisation you are representing
• make effective use of the chat facility to assist discussions where appropriate
• not to record the meeting and have any listening devices (for example, AI bots) turned off. The use of AI to interact, respond, or engage during the meeting, will be considered a breach of our participation guidelines, and may result in appropriate actions, including removal from the meeting

5. Agenda-setting and discussion

We need to use our, and our stakeholders’, resource effectively and efficiently, so we must be clear that sufficient value can be derived from a meeting to go ahead.

You should expect:

• meetings to be arranged as per the Terms of Reference, with bespoke meetings held as required
• agreement on whether they are online (via Teams) or face-to-face.
• meetings to be moved or cancelled, or handled by correspondence, if key people are unavailable or there are limited items on the agenda to hold a meeting
• the right level of knowledge and expertise to be provided by HMRC for the discussion
• agenda/discussion topics relevant to that forum, avoiding duplication with other forums
• where it is considered, a specific discussion is more appropriate to another forum, the forum chair will agree where it best sits

We expect you to:

• offer suggestions in the preparation of the agenda, which will help drive improvements for customers, intermediaries and HMRC
• raise issues that are appropriate for the forum and avoid duplication with other forums - only raise an item at an alternative forum where the chairperson or group consider it appropriate
• raise and discuss issues that have wider industry impacts and are not client specific
• consider whether attendance causes you / your nominated representative a potential conflict of interest. If so, make the secretariat aware and agree solution

6. Information sharing

Communications are a vital part of our engagement. It is essential to share what is appropriate at the right time, with the right people at the right level. It is important that we get it right.

You should expect:

• secretariats to share information with you for wider circulation
• at times the material may be confidential in nature, so only for you or a limited number of appropriate and trusted individuals in your organisation
• secretariats to share information and documents aligned to the ‘Information sharing levels’ 1, 2, 3 or ‘in the room’

We expect you to:

• abide by the ‘Information sharing levels’ and not share information marked level 2, 3 or ‘in the room’ discussions wider than agreed
• contact the secretariat if it is unclear, or you want to clarify, what the ‘Information level’ is
• assist the chairperson if inappropriate sharing of information requires investigation

7. Evaluation

To continue to achieve value for money, we need to evaluate the need for the forum, as well as assessing its effectiveness.

You should expect:

• a forum review to be conducted regularly, per the Terms of Reference, to evaluate its effectiveness in meeting its purpose and objectives
• the review to lead to continuous improvement

We expect you to:

• complete the forum review, giving honest feedback on the effectiveness of the forum
• provide feedback on the operation of the forum at any time, where you feel it’s appropriate

8. Closure

If the forum has fulfilled its purpose or no longer required, agreement will be reached to close it down.

You should expect:

• once a decision is made to end a forum, all stakeholders are notified
• all outstanding actions to be closed or moved to a new forum, where applicable

We expect you to:

• participate in the decision and abide by the outcome

Information sharing levels

Level one

Level one information can be shared openly with forum members, and their colleagues, clients and members, allowing them to amplify HMRC messages. Examples include news items, policy changes or operational updates, public consultations.

It can be shared wider in newsletters, on websites and via social media.

Level 2

Level 2 information can be shared with forum members, and trusted colleagues and volunteers where they can provide expertise/specialist knowledge to enhance their feedback. Examples include draft messages/gov.uk guidance documents shared for feedback, co-creation sessions where HMRC is seeking feedback on emerging policies and tools, Policy Driven Change feedback collaboration.

Please note:

• it cannot appear in newsletters, on websites or social media
• it cannot be shared wider without HMRC prior consent
• where asked, the topic of this information can be shared wider but not the content

Forum members employed by professional bodies

Forum members employed by professional bodies may share with other employees of their professional bodies, and relevant volunteer committees where they can provide expertise or specialist knowledge to enhance their feedback.

Forum members who represent (but are not employed by) professional bodies

Forum members who represent (but are not employed by) professional bodies may share with other volunteers on relevant committee, those employed by professional bodies, and any relevant colleagues, where they can provide expertise and specialist knowledge to enhance their feedback.

Forum members who represent agent firms

Forum members who represent agent firms may share with any relevant colleagues within their firms where those colleagues can provide expertise/specialist knowledge to enhance their feedback.

Level 3

Level 3 information can be shared with forum members and trusted close colleagues due to their expertise to enhance their feedback.

Examples include sharing strategic direction, emerging policies

Please note:

• it cannot appear in newsletters, on websites or social media
• it cannot be shared wider without HMRC prior consent
• where asked, the topic of this information can be shared wider but not the content

Forum members employed by professional bodies

Forum members employed by professional bodies may share with other employees of their professional bodies, and volunteers appointed to attend or consult on behalf of the professional bodies to enhance their feedback.

Forum members who represent (but not employed by) professional bodies

Forum members who represent (but not employed by) professional bodies may share with those employed by professional bodies to enhance their feedback. 

Forum members who represent agent firms

Forum members who represent agent firms may share with their national tax or tax policy team (or equivalent individual or group co-ordinating or managing involvement with HMRC) due to their expertise to enhance their feedback.

‘In the room’ discussions

‘In the room’ discussions are information must not ‘leave the room’ or be shared wider beyond those attending without express permission from HMRC.

Examples include where HMRC is providing advance notice of changes or seeking feedback on communication, embargoed communications or policy changes. Not for general forums - specific purpose and sharing restrictions to be confirmed to attendees.

Please note:

• this information cannot appear in newsletters, on websites or social media
• there is potential reputational risk should this information be shared wider beyond the group, and serious ramifications if it is for that stakeholder or organisation