Tax enforcement agents have been writing to cancer patients and people left penniless by the pandemic and associated lockdowns threatening to seize their possessions and sell them — because the economic impact of coronavirus means the NHS needs their money.
“Covid-19 (Coronavirus) has damaged the UK economy, which means more than ever it is important that tax debts are collected to help it recover. These are also needed to continue to fund vital public services like the NHS,” read letters to people who owed the state as little as £66, after Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) passed on the personal records of some 4.5 million taxpayers to private debt collectors without their specific consent.
An investigation by The Times found that the people being pursued included cancer patients, care home works, and a “vulnerable man” who attempted suicide due to anxiety over his debts, as well as people financially broken by the coronavirus and anti-coronavirus regulations — who will presumably have been left cold by the lecture on the damage the virus has done to the economy.
One such man was 59-year-old carpenter Richard Hull, who was laid low by the virus in April and ended up unable to pay a £9,733 tax bill due to lost or delayed work over the course of the year. He was not able to access government income support schemes because he is self-employed.
“If you still don’t pay, we’ll now treat you like you’ve deliberately chosen not to,” read a letter to Mr Hull from HMRC.
“We can take things you own and sell them and we charge you fees for doing this. If you don’t act now it could cost you more money. Alternatively, in certain circumstances we can take money directly from your bank or building society accounts,” they added.
The Times found that some of the people contacted were only in arrears due to errors by the taxman, including a freelance office manager who has been unable to work for months due to the fact she is receiving chemotherapy and has been told to “shield” by the government.
Despite being told she could defer a tax bill, debt collectors contacted her telling her to pay over £5,000 as a matter of urgency or they could show up at her door — something friends and family have been unable to do for a long stretch of time.
“I have been shielding and so spent months without seeing friends and family, and now I’ve been threatened that someone could turn up at my home,” she lamented.
HMRC told the newspaper that some of the messages sent out “was a mistake and does not reflect our current approach to debt collection” but declined apologise for the threats that people’s possessions would be seized and sold off to raise money.