Linda Francis DWP
Catriona Myers Wilson Community Legal Services
Susan Vile LITRG
Joanna Parsley Credit Action
Keith Spencer RNID
Arthur Hook TaxAid
Robin Williamson LITRG
Nigel Purkis Gingerbread
Sally West Age Concern
Sharon Palmer RNIB
John Andrews LITRG
Elizabeth Ladimeji Citizens Advice
Nick Jones Action for Blind People
Gina Jordan HMRC
Sean Griffin HMRC
Sam Shelley HMRC
Emma Sage HMRC
Lyn Falkner HMRC
Emma Sage (ES) welcomed those attending, in particular, a new Individual Stakeholder Forum (ISF) member - Joanna Parsley from Credit Action. She also introduced the new HMRC team, outlining their responsibilities and roles.
ES explained the positioning of the Third Sector Team within the ‘Willing but Needs Help’ customer segment team. The wider team is developing strategies to improve services to those customers who want to do the right thing but are unable to do so and to address the needs of customers who struggle to understand and navigate HMRC’s processes.
She delivered the commitment to members that:-
ES provided a follow-up to the ISF review held earlier this year, stating:
Many of the reviews’ recommendations have already been implemented such as:
There continues to be further areas for improvement which includes a review of:
Action point for ISF secretariat: Initial drafts of the TOR and membership list will be circulated, requesting comments prior to the October 2009 ISF meeting – when they will be discussed formally.
A strong theme from the review was to raise ISF’s profile across HMRC and wider government. We will look to secure senior level attendance at future meetings. Representatives from DWP and HM Treasury were present for today’s meeting.
ES concluded feedback on the ISF review by highlighting the two new agenda items allowing:
Keith Spencer (KS) asked how the ISF would link to other groups for example, disabled customer groups and stressed there was a need to ensure that issues raised in one group were circulated to other groups. ES confirmed that should be easier now as the team responsible for liaising with other groups were now under her command.
The new delegate packs were introduced and attention drawn to items of interest.
The minutes of the previous ISF meeting in January were agreed and will be published on the Internet.
Two workshops were held (see links):
Presentation: Joanna Parsley (JP) from Credit Action
JP advised the forum that Credit Action was founded in 1994. They work at a local and national level. It produces money manuals and a range of publications that are jargon free. These are used by a number of organisations including Gingerbread. They are currently working on a publication around student loans to increase financial awareness and capability.
They have:-
The organisation also provides second tier money management advice which is free, independent and confidential.
Short five minute news presentations were then delivered on:
The forum was asked to forward any agenda items for the next meeting to the team.
Date of next meeting - October 2009.
