Why does GDS find it so difficult to get things right on Gov.UK?

GDS – the Government Digital Service, which is responsible for keeping Gov.UK updated – has recently posted updates to HMRC’s CIRD Manual. All very boring, except for the fact that GDS seems to be struggling to actually get the update right.

On the evening of 16 May an update was made to the pages covering the legislative time line of the R&D relief – as shown in this screenshot

Unfortunately, when I went to the CIRD Manual there was no page CIRD98620. Neither was there any reference to the FA13 changes. I reported this using the feedback link at the bottom of the web page and the GDS team sprang into action. On the evening of 17 May, the update description was itself updated to show the following.

Surprisingly, CIRD98630 does exist.

Unfortunately, CIRD98620 still doesn’t exist and there is still no reference to the FA13 changes – maybe GDS doesn’t think that the introduction of the RDEC rules was really that important.

Now, on one level this is all just an example of poor planning and application leading to silly mistakes.

There is, however, a more serious issue – how on earth can we have any confidence in the accuracy of information on Gov.UK if GDS can’t even get the basics right?