Have spent most of the morning grappling with online and other HM Government services.

Thus we can not enroll for Corporation Tax services until we have had our registered company address changed. This problem arises because the soon-to-be-mighty global corporation CGC reSolutions Ltd took over another defunct company. The registered address for us at Companies House is fine. But the CT system has the old address.

Changing the old address to the new one turns out to be difficult. The tax office at the number given online and by a Helpdesk did not pick up the telephone after my holding for nine minutes. So I have had to write to them.  

Meanwhile I have been trying to extract a state pension forecast from the online system, but that does not work because (I think) our current address does not correspond with the myriad Foreign Office addresses we have had down the years. So after spending ten minutes waiting for them to answer the telephone, I now have to wait two weeks for a written forecast by post.

Sigh.

The Information Function is very difficult for governments with well established legacy systems. Moving an official process or organisation to a new secure technology is complex enough in itself anyway (remember the Tubes?). Plus the large public out there are all whirring around at different stages of life and differing abilities to engage with the system as it is, let alone a snazzy new one.

The new online services seem to work well enough when one has navigated one’s way to final registration and made a careful note of all the different code numbers and passwords one needs. BUt what a faff achieving that.

Another exercise has been calling Microsoft to complain about the fact that the letters on our new Curved Keyboard are wearing away after only a few weeks’ use. Eventually I got through to a series of helpdesks somewhere in the deeper part of the Himalayas. I think they promised to get me a new one, but I am not sure.

Complexity. It will be the downfall of us all.