The director general of HM Revenue and Customs’ strategy group, Nick Lodge, is leaving to lead a major infrastructure initiative at the Bank of England.
Lodge will step down in October after six years on HMRC’s executive committee, first as director general for benefits and credits before leading the transformation and then strategy group divisions. He was also appointed an HMRC commissioner in 2012 after 11 years as a director at the tax authority.
While leading the transformation division, Lodge was involved in cutting short a fraught tax credits fraud and error contract with the US outsourcing firm Concentrix in 2016, which led to HMRC bringing its tax fraud checks in-house.
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His civil service career began at the Inland Revenue, HMRC’s predecessor, after 10 years in retail banking. He has also spent stints at HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office.
As programme director for the Bank of England’s RTGS renewal programme, Lodge will oversee an overhaul of the Bank’s real-time gross settlement service, which is used to facilitate high-value financial transactions.
“I’m excited to be joining the Bank of England, leading a major programme at the heart of the UK’s financial infrastructure. It’s a great role that I’m really looking forward to and that brings me back to banking, where I began my career,” Lodge said.
HMRC will announce interim arrangements for filling the director general role “shortly”, it said.