HMRC: Lin Homer to step down as HMRC CEO in April 

Lin Homer has announced today that she is to leave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in April, after more than four years as Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary and a public service career spanning 36 years.

Lin Homer joined HMRC in January 2012 and led the organisation through a period of recovery and significant performance improvements, including:

• successive, record-breaking increases in total revenues and compliance revenues
• the reduction of the tax gap and tax credits error and fraud, both to record lows
• a recovery in customer service from a low-point of 48% calls answered in 2011, to almost 90% calls answered in December 2015, with a queuing time of six minutes
• a new governance structure for assuring tax settlements
• an ambitious transformation programme to digitise services for customers and make HMRC a smaller, more flexible and highly-skilled organisation based in 13 large Regional Centres
• two successful Spending Reviews in which HMRC received around £2.3 billion in reinvestment for that transformation.

Lin Homer, Chief Executive, HMRC said:

After ten years as a Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary in the Civil Service, the start of the next Spending Review period seemed to be a sensible time to move on. HMRC has secured Ministerial support and funding for our ambitious transformation programme and it has the leadership team in place to deliver it. My successor will be able to put their full weight behind seeing the transformation through to 2020.

It has been a privilege to have been with HMRC during a period when the improved performance of the Department has been increasingly recognised and we have the full backing of Ministers for our future plans.

HMRC is a critical organisation which does vital things – to collect the revenues to pay for public services, support families with targeted financial support and facilitate trade for UK businesses. I have found commitment to public service and dedication to customers among our people wherever I have been, coupled with a deep level of specialist expertise and operational excellence.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said:

Lin Homer has made a real contribution to public service modernisation and transformation. She has put the foundations in place that will seeHMRC become one of the most digitally-advanced tax authorities in the world. It is to Lin’s great credit that the National Audit Office last year judged HMRC to be one of the strongest Departments in Government – a legacy of which she can be rightly proud.

Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, said:

Following a succession of challenging and important roles in a long and varied public sector career, Lin has led HM Revenue and Customs for the last four years with great distinction. She not only leaves behind a significantly more effective and efficient organisation, delivering more for less; she has also helped to transform HMRC into one of the most open, digitally-advanced revenue services in the world.

In addition, Lin has made a valuable contribution to the wider leadership of the Civil Service, including by chairing the Civil Service People Board and acting as Civil Service disability champion for a number of years. She has been a dedicated, professional and courageous colleague and a pleasure to work with. We all wish her the very best with whatever she decides to do next.

A process is now underway to select a new Chief Executive for HMRC. More details will be provided in due course.

Lin Homer has confirmed that she is not currently actively seeking her next role and intends to take a break over the summer. She has also told staff that:

I will be fully sensitive to the responsibility and care that senior HMRC officials should take when considering the appropriateness of potential roles and organisations.

Source: HMRC

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