On the money with Damian Wild

Kieran Poynter as the next chairman of HMRC? Perhaps not.

It’s not that ministers are averse to looking to the private sector when it comes to appointing a new chief taxman. So much so, that the phrase poacher turned gamekeeper has an old-fashioned ring to it. I’m just not sure they would turn to someone who has spent his career at an accountancy firm ­ and one firm at that.

Nor, I have to say, is there any evidence that the PwC UK chairman actually wants the job.

Nevertheless while Dave Hartnett ­ himself a lifer, but at HMRC ­ is acting chairman of the taxman, it’s Poynter who has the highest profile job in investigating What Went Wrong With Our Data (Daily Mail-style capitals are surely obligatory).

And in his report, due tomorrow, he cannot afford to underestimate the strength of public feeling about the scale of the mismanagement of data and distribution.

HMRC phone lines were said to be somewhat less than white hot in the days following the lost disc announcement. Yet Link, the UK ATM network, said the number of people changing PIN numbers at cash machines rose by 50% in the three days immediately after. Meanwhile 62% of adults who receive child benefit checked their bank statements, with 10% changing passwords and 6% their PINs.

On those numbers alone I can’t think of a government cock-up that has touched so many people so quickly. And while the perceived threat is far greater than the real one, it matters.

In bringing sense to this farce, Poynter will need to avoid playing to the political gallery. And while not pandering to public opinion either, his findings need to appreciate the very real concerns out there.

He’s picked quite a time to make his debut on the Westminster stage.

Damian Wild is editor in chief of Accountancy Age and blogs at accountancymatters.accountancyage.com