The taxman’s reliance on private debt collectors has reached fresh heights, with HMRC spending more than £5.2m in a single month with its principal recovery partner, a sum that critics warn is being prised from already battle-worn small businesses.
Analysis by the Parliament Street think tank of HMRC’s transparency disclosures shows the department paid TDX Group £5,289,528.65 in February 2026, the company’s debt recovery and insolvency management arm. That marks a leap of just over £2m on January’s bill of £3,236,829.26, and dwarfs the £4,070,045.89 spent in December.
The escalation comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves leans ever harder on tax compliance to plug Treasury gaps, with wage growth across the wider economy continuing to flatline.
For TDX Group, the boom in government instructions has translated into healthy returns. The company’s most recently filed accounts at Companies House reveal turnover climbing from £63.2m to £79.7m over the past two financial years, with operating profit doubling from £3.7m to £7.5m in the same period.
That trajectory is unlikely to reverse soon. In the Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor confirmed that 5,000 additional HMRC compliance officers would be phased in by 2029-30, a recruitment drive the Treasury expects to deliver around £7.5bn a year in extra yield once fully operational. A further 500 officers were rubber-stamped at the Spring Statement 2025, with hiring beginning in the 2025-26 financial year.
For smaller firms, already wrestling with employer National Insurance rises, stubborn borrowing costs and softer consumer demand, the intensified pursuit of arrears is being felt acutely.
Kenny MacAulay, chief executive of accounting software platform Acting Office, said the figures would land badly with owner-managed businesses already on the ropes. “These figures will rub salt in the wound of struggling businesses forced to tackle higher taxes, operating costs and surging interest rates,” he said. “Faced with sizeable overheads, companies will be looking to make use of AI and technology to cut costs and balance the books.”
Patrick Sullivan, chief executive of the Parliament Street think tank, was more pointed. “It beggars belief that the Chancellor’s debt collectors are raking in millions whilst hardworking taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet,” he said. “It’s time for a radical rethink of government expenditure, with a clampdown on millionaire debt collectors who are getting rich at the expense of working people.”
TDX Group declined to comment on the specifics of its arrangements, citing the confidentiality of its contractual relationships.
A spokesman for HMRC defended the department’s approach, stressing that enforcement was a last resort. “Most customers meet their tax responsibilities, with 90 per cent paying in full and on time,” he said. “We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and do everything we can to help those who engage with us to get out of debt, including offering instalment plans.”
For SME owners weighing whether the squeeze will ease any time soon, the direction of travel from Whitehall suggests otherwise. With thousands more compliance officers set to come on stream and outsourced collection activity scaling rapidly, the cost, both financial and reputational, of falling behind on a tax bill is rising fast.
