The UK tax authority has been forced to clean house after dozens of staff were caught helping themselves to taxpayer records.

Freedom of Information (FOI) figures pried from His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and published by The Telegraph reveal that between 2022 and 2025, a total of 354 staff were hauled up for data security breaches, and 186 of them were shown the door.

The cull has gathered pace too, with 50 employees booted out in the past year alone – proof that the real tax burden might be resisting the temptation to snoop on your neighbor's payslip.

The scale of the cull is striking for an organization that repeatedly insists breaches are rare. Officials point out that the total represents around 0.1 percent of HMRC's 68,000-strong workforce. Even so, that is little comfort

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