Migration

The furore surrounding the migration – or in the case of Business Link, closure - of popular government websites into the new GOV.UK portal, looks set to open up a new front of frustration after news emerged that HMRC’s own website will be subsumed into it from March 2013.

Fears over the move were made after a torrent of criticism followed the closure earlier this month of Business Link - the government-funded business advice and guidance website – which critics say is riddled with inaccurate and misleading advice.

The Business Link site, which was launched in 2004, was replaced along with Directgov by the new gov.uk website on 17 October 2012.

Elaine Clark, founder of the cheapaccounting.co.uk business, who discovered the HMRC merger plans, said:

‘After the Business Link fiasco, my biggest fear is that they will totally cock it up, particularly as the majority of the migration will take place from April 2013, when they will be coping with Real Time Information changes, which will be a nightmare in their own right.’

She said that as many of the users of the HMRC website are accountants she was somewhat surprised that none of the accountancy bodies had communicated the changes to their members or had been asked to participate in any form of steering committee.

Her own offer to help provide professional accountancy input to the Government Digital Service - the organisation overseeing the changes – was rejected, she added.

An HMRC spokesman said:

‘HMRC’s website as well as other government departments and a handful of agencies/NDPBs will migrate to the new GOV.UK platform, in line with Cabinet Office requirements.’

‘The plan for these websites is for corporate content and most of the detailed guidance to be on GOV.UK by March 2013, with the remainder moved by December 2013.’

HMRC have worked closely with the Government Digital Service (GDS) towards the launch of GOV.UK, including delivering the smooth transition of businesslink.gov.uk, for which HMRC have been responsible since 2007-08. We continue to work with GDS to transfer additional material across in later phases.’