HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been told it "needs to get in shape" after figures emerged showing the department is spending just shy of £4.5million every year on a string of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) roles.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by news blog Guido Fawkes found that the UK's tax authorities are shelling out £4,495,726.26 every year on the "woke" job salaries.
The blog defined the "woke" roles as those with the words "diversity", "inclusion", "climate", "well-being" and "race" in their titles, and jabbed that it was "not quite sure" how they "contribute to the collection of tax".
The following job titles were some of the list of those uncovered:
- Culture Impacting and Equalities Support
- Senior Consultant for Equality Diversity
- Values & Culture Advocate Lead
- Wellbeing Project Co-ordinator
- Culture Impacting and Equalities Support
The shocking figures uncovered revealed the scale of the 'woke' spending by HMRC
Guido Fawkes/Getty/PA
In response to the figures, Callum McGoldrick, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance, told GB News: "Taxpayers are sick of seeing public bodies fill up their ranks with pointless non-jobs.
"We have a record high tax burden, and one of the most complicated tax systems in the world, yet the taxman barely picks up the phone.
"HMRC need to get themselves into shape and axe unnecessary posts."
Ukip chairman Ben Walker slammed the news, saying HMRC was "wasting £4.5million of our money on woke jobs".
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Reeves told GB News that HMRC callers would be 'lucky if someone answers the phone'
GB NewsWalker continued: "We must get rid of needless diversity jobs. They cost the majority of people loadz-a-money and just encourage the hard left to spread their divisive opinions."
The FOI bombshell comes just days after Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged that Labour would take extensive measures to tighten the "tax gap" - the difference between the money HMRC is owed and the revenue it actually receives.
In a footnote to the blog post, Guido Fawkes said: "Rachel Reeves wants to hire 5,000 new HMRC tax inspectors to close the theoretical 'tax gap'. If politicians want to spend more of our cash on inspectors maybe they should institute a 'one out, one in' policy..."
Behind the "woke" fiasco lie damning figures about the department; 841,000 phone calls were not answered by staff in January alone, while over half of HMRC staff were working from home between January and March this year.
Reeves told GB News: "At the moment, if you try and phone up HMRC, if you've got a tax query, you're lucky - very lucky - if someone answers the phone."
An HMRC spokesperson told GB News: "In common with other public authorities, we must comply with statutory equality obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and Northern Ireland Act 1998.
"Doing so in a large organisation such as HMRC requires resources.
"When we get equality, diversity and inclusion right, it helps us to deliver effectively for our customers, retain and recruit people with the skills we need and create a great place to work."