Working Together and local Working Together meetings
Updated 20 April 2016
© Crown copyright 2016
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together/working-together-and-local-working-together-meetings
The information on this page is obsolete. Please read Working Together for further information.
Working Together (WT) is a partnership between HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the main agent representative bodies:
- Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
- Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)
- Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT)
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
WT looks for ways to improve HMRC’s operations for the benefit of tax agents, their clients and HMRC. This guide explains what WT does. It also includes a link to the Agent Update publication which contains the latest WT news and issues.
1. Working Together Team
The Working Together Team (WTT) supports local groups by providing regular communications and briefings on operational matters - as well as helping to resolve problems through the issues resolution process.
WT includes a network of local groups across the UK which is an essential part of the partnership.
Key objectives of the local WT groups are to:
- improve communications between HMRC and tax agents
- identify and clarify issues which can be escalated to the WTT in real time
- help HMRC focus on the best way to help tax agents and their clients
- be open and exchange views on how the tax system works
Many of the agents in the local groups will represent one of the main representative bodies. But some will attend as part of the wider local agent community, or as a representative of other agent organisations. Agents who attend the meetings are asked to bring discussion items from their colleagues with them, and feed back to them after each meeting.
2. Issues Overview Group
Representatives from the WT team and the professional bodies have established the Issues Overview Group to ensure that systemic issues raised by the professional bodies, their members and inaffliated agents are reviewed, resolved or escalated appropriately. This group hold quarterly telephone conferences and review information on the number of referrals received and issues registered/closed. This group is made up of:
- up to 2 representatives from each professional body
- 2 or 3 representatives from WT plus others from across HMRC (as required)
2.1 Key aims
The key aims of the Issues Overview Group are to:
- focus on systemic issues where HMRC procedures and service affect tax agents and their clients
- deal with new issues of national importance as and when they arise
- agree key priorities and check on their progress
- receive information on reviews or projects that are being carried out by HMRC
- make sure that agents’ views are passed to consultation groups
- identify opportunities to work together to improve HMRC’s service to tax agents and their clients
3. Joint initiative on HMRC Service Delivery
Agents and HMRC are working together to address the concerns about service standards that have been raised by the representative bodies following a Treasury Select Committee report. Find out more about the work of the Joint Initiative on HMRC Service Delivery.
4. Agent Update publication
The Agent Update publication includes a section on subjects that are believed to be of interest to those involved in the WT network, or that have been identified as key areas of concern. This information was previously available in the Working Together publication.
You can read the latest Agent Update publications. The previous Working Together publications are on the National Archive website.
5. Local Working Together meetings: getting involved
WT groups give tax agents and advisers the opportunity to raise issues with HMRC and to hear messages from the department.
Most agent attendees are affiliated with 1 of the 6 main professional bodies. They make sure that their members’ opinions and issues are raised with HMRC direct.
The local groups also discuss HMRC operational issues - resolving them where possible. They also take part in activities that are of interest to both agents and HMRC. Many groups also have members who are affiliated to other agent organisations or ‘non-affiliated’ agents who represent the wider agent community.
The local groups meet 2 or 3 times a year. All meetings have formal agendas and minutes, and regular feedback is provided to group members on issues raised.
6. How to get involved
There are many local WT groups that meet across the UK and you will find a list of their locations below.
| Region | Locations of local WT groups |
|---|---|
| Wales | Cardiff, Colwyn Bay, Swansea |
| Scotland | Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness |
| Northern Ireland | Belfast |
| South England | Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester, Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Portsmouth/Southampton, Reading, Woking |
| London and Anglia | Croydon, Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough, Southend, Stevenage, Tolworth |
| North West and Midlands | Birmingham, Bolton, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Penrith, Preston, Stockport, Warrington, Wolverhampton, Worcester |
| East | Bradford, Grimsby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Yorks |
If you’d like to get involved with a local group, you can email the professional body you’re affiliated to:
- CIOT: technical@tax.org.uk
- ICAEW: tdtf@icaew.co.uk
- ACCA: wt@accaglobal.com
- ICAS: tax@icas.org.uk
- ATT: wt@att.org.uk
- AAT: aleem.islan@aat.org.uk
Tell them you’re interested in representing your organisation at a local group and which group you’re interested in joining. Your organisation will confirm if there are vacancies available in your chosen group.
If you’re not affiliated to a professional body, or are affiliated to another organisation, you can email team.agentengagement@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and register your interest in the group you’d like to join.
If you use the unaffiliated email request for anything other than registering your interest in joining WT, HMRC won’t be able to deal with, or respond to, your query.