HMRC staff sacked for reading personal data

An MP has revealed that over 600 staff at HM Revenue & Customs have been disciplined for snooping on tax payers' personal histories.

Treasury Financial Secretary Jane Kennedy said that 238 people were disciplined in 2005, 180 in 2006 and 192 in 2007.

While some employees received a reprimand, the MP revealed that a large number had been fired.

Kennedy said that HMRC has a "strict policy forbidding staff to access customer records unless they have a legitimate business need".

"Breaches of this policy are taken seriously and will result in the commencement of disciplinary proceedings," she said. "Each case is treated on its merits but, in many cases, the disciplinary penalty for breach is dismissal. "

The cases highlight continuing concerns about the department's competence in handling data on UK citizens.

Brian Spector, general manager at content protection firm Workshare, said: " You cannot force employees to stop accessing sensitive data. People are only human and mistakes are going to be made.

"Businesses need to deploy content protection solutions if they are to overcome human error and avoid the damaging consequences of data leakage.

"Technology should integrate itself into an organisation's people and processes, not the other way around."

See also:

HMRC wins villain of the year award

Another reason to hate the taxman  17 Mar 2008

Phishers slow to capitalise on HMRC data loss

First attack surfaces months after the event  22 Feb 2008

MPs call to criminalise data loss

Justice Select Committee demands heavy fines and/or jail terms  03 Jan 2008

Government loses 3m learner driver records

Another day, another data breach  18 Dec 2007

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