Civil Servants at HMRC Host ‘British Guilt’ Seminar
7th August 2025
Civil servants at HM Revenue & Customs have been criticised for hosting a seminar on the “guilt of being British” while taxpayers struggled to use the customer service hotline.
The hour-long discussion was available to staff remotely from 11am on Wednesday. The seminar, run by the HMRC Race Network, covered topics including “the emotional weight of colonial history”. Reports said it explored the “emotional complexity of being south Asian and British”.
An internal advertisement promoting the seminar, seen by the Daily Mail, said it would explore “career challenges faced by south Asian women — barriers, bias and expectations” as well as “themes of guilt, pride, and identity”. It is not known how many HMRC employees attended the remote event.