A BRILLIANT OPPORTUNITY: GETTING TO KNOW HMRC!

I had a great meeting this morning with Angela Asif and Jackie Cawthorne, from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in Sheffield. Angela and Jackie are passionate about HMRC and the opportunities within the organisation for young people. HMRC is the only branch of Government actively recruiting more staff and I am delighted that Angela and Jackie are working with us to develop the new 'Made in Sheffield' HMRC Ambassador programme, which will start in September.

Many people have a negative perception of what it’s like to work for HMRC and are unaware of the diverse range of career opportunities. HMRC is much more than 'the tax man', employing over 66,000 people and serving around 33 million customers. Interestingly, HMRC is the UK's biggest business, with annual revenue of £436 billion. As well as collecting tax, HMRC administer benefit payments, help to protect national interests and carry out the fascinating, wide ranging work that helps to keep Britain in the black. HMRC pay out tax credits and check travellers aren't bringing anything into the country that they shouldn't. HMRC deal with all kinds of people, from businesses to individuals, and thousands of them every day. In fact, almost everyone comes into contact with HMRC at some point, which makes customer service central to everything HMRC do. Most HMRC people are here to help customers, whether that's by filling in tax returns or Child Benefit forms. But there are also many highly specialised roles including lawyers and accountants and designers.

We believe that the Cutlers Made in Sheffield HMRC Ambassadors, working with colleagues like Angela and Jackie, who are passionate about the opportunities within HMRC, will come to better understand what it does, the skills you need to be successful and the careers and opportunities there are within HMRC. The Cutlers Made in Sheffield HMRC Ambassadors will have the opportunity to work with in a variety of departments, work on projects and challenges and hear about the experiences of those working for HMRC and being able to ask them questions. We believe that this will provide a fantastic opportunity for those young people who are interested in careers in the sector and give the colleagues working in the sector the opportunity to work with and develop relationships with a group of young people who could be the HMRC professionals of the future! We are looking forward to developing this exciting additional element of the Cutlers' Made in Sheffield programme.