HMRC Tax Professional and Operational Delivery Higher Officer Caseworker

Recently got offered a post in Stratford, and so happy about it. Been waiting for months. Does anyone know if the 12 week training period is paid?

Before you hand your notice in, I would try and get full confirmation of the nature of your role, if you have childcare responsibilities. I started in VAT in September and my contract is certainly not 8-8, nor was there any mention of customer calls.

It sounds more to me that you are being placed in personal tax or a customer contact role.

Hope it all works out for you x

'Customer calls' was mentioned in my offer letter. I started in October as a HO caseworker and will focus on ITSA. The 'calls' are visits to traders and they vary depending on which Tax head you're working on. The only phonecalls you would make and take as part of the role are those to traders/agents in regards to the compliance check you're carrying out.

Somebody else mentioned about TSP people taking calls in January during the SA peak and I remember that my learning plan for January didn't have any reading or tutorials, it was all dedicated to casework. So who knows if we're actually going to do that or they stick us on the phones for a month. By that point my knowledge of SA would be basic as the first few months are cross tax learning where we are learning the basics about many different types of tax with lots of other things to go with it. I only would have read a short 20 page overview guide on SA, hardly enough to deal with all types of SA queries from the public.

Im wondering where all this call information comes from?is this from the original jib advert?or a seperate sheet stating it?

As someone who has worked as an AO for over a year taking SA and PAYE calls, the chances of them putting caseworkers on the phones are pretty much zero. Even if you move from SA contact centre to doing VAT/CT they don't allow you to do SA overtime.

I'm awaiting my O band start date so feeling the pain of many in here

Whats the differ3nce between CCO and business and compliance?

It doesnt tell me which department i am in. just states after 12 weeks i will get allocated a team.

And i think everyone will realise that it will be 8 - 8 and might include weekends. it states that in my current contract but never had to work weekends or until 8.

Thank you! That seems to be most helpful and has given me a better insight. I was hoping calls meant visits but just wanted to make sure.
Where are you based and how are you finding your role? Are you doing exams?

echoing a previous post .. those that have been offered positions, what were your scores? just out of curiosity....

It happens every year though for the peak. People from other departments with no SA knowledge work the peak.

All they do is take payments so you don't need any SA knowledge as they aren't an information line.

As someone who has worked as an AO for over a year taking SA and PAYE calls, the chances of them putting caseworkers on the phones are pretty much zero. Even if you move from SA contact centre to doing VAT/CT they don't allow you to do SA overtime.

I'm awaiting my O band start date so feeling the pain of many in here

Based in Leeds, the job itself seems interesting from sitting with caseworkers and other teams. The learning is very dry however, our plan has us reading material between 25-35 hours a week, each week for 6 months. The rest of the time is filled with tutorials and casework but we won't be given a case until probably the end of November.

There are no exams as part of our learning plan but there are knowledge checks on several subjects and I've done six so far, some easier than others as some cover lots of areas which means more reading. The knowledge checks aren't done under exam conditions, you do them at your computer when you feel ready and they're multiple choice. You're not allowed any notes etc while you do them but if you focus on your reading you'll be fine.

Then again, the learning plan is now supposedly being condensed to 12 weeks so it may be different again for new starters.

Yea its scandalous that new starters are being put at a disadvantage. When analysing performance you can't possibly compare someone who has 6 months training with someone who has 12 weeks

The HO training used to be two years long... I don't think anyone who has started recently will have a clue what they are doing after 6 months.

Based in Leeds, the job itself seems interesting from sitting with caseworkers and other teams. The learning is very dry however, our plan has us reading material between 25-35 hours a week, each week for 6 months. The rest of the time is filled with tutorials and casework but we won't be given a case until probably the end of November.

There are no exams as part of our learning plan but there are knowledge checks on several subjects and I've done six so far, some easier than others as some cover lots of areas which means more reading. The knowledge checks aren't done under exam conditions, you do them at your computer when you feel ready and they're multiple choice. You're not allowed any notes etc while you do them but if you focus on your reading you'll be fine.

Then again, the learning plan is now supposedly being condensed to 12 weeks so it may be different again for new starters.

Yea its scandalous that new starters are being put at a disadvantage. When analysing performance you can't possibly compare someone who has 6 months training with someone who has 12 weeks