We want to ensure that our activities have a positive impact on the communities in which we work and on society as a whole.
The goals for our work with communities are to:
We are committed to designing and delivering products and services that meet our customers' needs, to ensure they understand what's required of them and get it right first time. This means targeting and tailoring communication products and campaigns, for example:
Our staff participate in a wide range of voluntary activities. The scope of our community involvement ensures a good fit with our expertise and business objectives and is focused on:
In 2011–12, we exceeded our target by giving more than 5,000 days to community activity. We have a similar level of commitment planned for each of the next three years.
We have developed Tax Matters, an online interactive learning package which supports the National Curriculum with lesson plans for schools, to help students learn about tax and National Insurance. HMRC volunteers work with Local Education Business Partnerships and Young Enterprise in delivering the programme in secondary schools and educating young people about their future tax and financial responsibilities.
We are strong supporters of the Prince's Trust Team Programme, which brings together employed participants with young people who are long-term unemployed, to help them gain the confidence and skills they need to build new lives. At the same time, this activity provides our staff with challenging development opportunities and the chance to gain a better understanding of the needs and priorities of a range of diverse communities within our customer base. In 2011-12, HMRC volunteers made up 45 per cent of employed Prince's Trust participants, making HMRC the largest supplier to the programme.
HMRC people support a range of charities, both locally and nationally, and raised £883,291 in 2011–12 for our three centrally supported charities. The biggest single benefactor was the Civil Service Benevolent Fund (Opens new window), which helps approximately 10,000 former and current civil servants each year by providing financial support, advice and information. HMRC people raised £760,528.57 for this charity through personal donations and fundraising events. A further £1,149 was collected for The Lifeboat Fund (Opens new window), which supports the work of the RNLI.
HMRC people also raised £121,613 for the BBC's 2011 Children in Need appeal and volunteers from some of our Contact Centres took donation calls from the public worth a further £318,519. A group of HMRC runners are training hard to support the 2012 Children in Need appeal by taking part in the 'Run to the Beat' half marathon in London on 28 October 2012
Payroll Giving allows people to contribute to
charity directly out of their wages. In 2011-12,
the number
of HMRC people
giving money
in this
way increased
from 7,922 to 8,669. We were awarded the
Payroll Giving Gold Quality Mark for the fifth year
running in recognition
of
the continuing
contributions of staff, who donated £872,825
to good causes through Payroll Giving.