Chief Executives: Face to face, online and hybrid activities for 2022

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share feedback on the new look Tax Adviser, which you saw for the first time last month.

We will again be celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March, partnering with Women in Tax to host a free panel session on allyship. This year’s IWD theme is #BreakTheBias and you will see us promoting this through our social media channels and on our websites. You can read more about allyship and our online event at https://bit.ly/3ha6oCQ.

You will have started to receive communications from us about the resumption of in-person events, either from your local branch committee chair or from Head Office. We are pleased to be resuming face to face Admissions ceremonies for our newest of members (CIOT in April and ATT in June) so that we can celebrate your achievements in person and welcome you formally to our respective bodies.

You may recall that last Autumn, we undertook a branch by branch survey of members and students. The results of the survey (13% response rate) showed that nearly 20% of our audience were very keen to return to local venues and to re-engage with the tax community in a physical space. A further 45% however, cited caution in their response. There is therefore a clear indication from the survey that the continuation of online CPD is viable and preferable and that is why you will see a mixture of online and in-person events in your local branch programme and in our other events provision for 2022. 

We have decided that some of our events will be offered face to face and online, i.e. hybrid. Please look out for a message about four pilot hybrid events in the network in 2022. The CTA Address will be held using a hybrid format this summer. We recognise that attendance in person delivers a different experience to attendance online, and our teams are focused on providing the best possible environment, regardless of how you choose to attend. Please look out for further information in the emails we send you from branches@ and events@, and our event and branches webpages are always kept up to date.

At the ATT, we are busy planning our upcoming technical events, including the annual conferences and our third webinar exclusively for ATT Fellows. Our popular Fellows’ webinars are free events which provide a unique opportunity for all Fellows to enjoy the company of members of similar standing within the Association, and include a presentation and discussion groups led by the technical officers. Adverts with more information on both events, including how to sign up, can be found in this edition of Tax Adviser.

We understand that one of the key concerns for members continues to be HMRC service levels, and the challenges these pose for both agents and their clients. HMRC’s latest performance statistics show quite a mixed picture, with on the one hand HMRC managing to answer 91% of calls to the Agent Dedicated Line in December 2021, but in the same month, only turning around 24% of all personal tax post with 15 working days.

This variation is very much in line with the feedback we have received from members over the last few months. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to share your experiences with us – this has been incredibly helpful and we at ATT and CIOT, together with other professional bodies, have been raising members’ concerns with HMRC on a regular basis. HMRC has now said that they ‘expect to be delivering normal (pre-pandemic) performance across our core service lines by the start of the new financial year’. This is an ambitious target to get things back on track by April 2022, but one which we hope members will welcome.