I'm not from the same campaign as most of you lot, but who's this talking absolute 💩.
Someone I have been talking to who is employed in Manchester office has said their manager has said they want more staff in asap as they're struggling. Going off this, id guess more start dates will be sent out for the new year. They seem to be giving 4 weeks notice which takes it to Christmas Day. Obviously no ones going to start through the holiday period so they're probably just waiting a few weeks to give out start dates for early January.
I know this is all just hearsay and hmrc haven't filled us with much hope through this whole process but it seems more realistic than the February/assessment malarkey going on up there 🤔