Lin Homer is the New Chief Executive Officer for UK HMRC

The Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Sir Gus O’Donnell, has announced that Lin Homer will be the next Chief Executive Officer of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Ms Homer, who is currently Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, takes over from Lesley Strathie, who stepped down last month on health grounds. The appointment has been approved by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

She will take up her post in January 2012.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said:
“I welcome Lin Homer’s appointment and am delighted that we will continue to have a strong team at HMRC.”

Sir Gus said:
“I am very pleased to announce that Lin Homer has been appointed as Chief Executive at HMRC. She has a wealth of experience working in the public service in central and local government.

“I was very sorry that Lesley Strathie had to step down last month, to concentrate on her health, at a time when HMRC was achieving very real improvements in its performance, and I know that Lin will build on Lesley’s achievements.”

Lin Homer said:
“I am delighted and honoured to be joining HMRC at this time. Lesley will be a hard act to follow. The department has achieved a great deal in recent years and I want to anchor those achievements, continue the drive for better customer service and sustainable cost reductions while bringing in more tax revenues for the country.

“I am also pleased that Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax, has agreed to stay on at HMRC until the summer of 2012, when he will retire. Dave is widely-recognised as a tax leader at home and abroad, and has secured billions in tax for the UK that would otherwise have been lost through avoidance, evasion and fraud.

“I will greatly benefit from the experience and continuity provided by both Mike Clasper and Dave Hartnett as I take up the reins at HMRC.”

HMRC’s Non-Executive Chairman, Mike Clasper, said:
“I am looking forward to working with Lin Homer as she leads the continued transformation of HMRC started by Dame Lesley Strathie. I am confident that this will deliver increased tax yields for the UK, improved service for HMRC’s customers and an efficient and engaged organisation.”

Mr Hartnett said:
“I am very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Lin and will give her every support during the coming months as she determines how to build on HMRC’s many achievements.”

Notes:

1. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1980, Lin Homer joined Hertfordshire County Council, where she stayed for 15 years, rising to Director of Corporate Services. She then left to join Suffolk County Council as Chief Executive in 1998. After four years at Suffolk, Lin went to be the Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council in 2002. After three years at Birmingham, she joined the civil service as the Director-General for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office, in August 2005. The Home Office was reorganised in 2008, with the formation of the Border and Immigration Agency, later renamed the UK Border Agency, of which Lin became the first Chief Executive. In 2010 she was appointed as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport.

2. HMRC is overseen by a Board of eight members including its Chairman, Mike Clasper. A process to find a successor to Mike will commence, as planned, early in 2012.