The UK taxman is never popular and is criticised on many fronts, but does very well when it comes to running an efficient website, according to new research from Sitemorse. 

Of nearly 350 websites  we surveyed in February on quality, user experience, accessibility, performance and search engine optimisation, HMRC's site came top with a score of just over eight out of ten possible marks.

Sharing the top five places with HMRC this time are the websites of the Health and Safety Executive, Northern Ireland Direct, the Met Office and Passenger Focus, an independent body set up by the government to protect the interests of passengers.

Running an efficient website or web presence depends so much on getting all the little details right , and very often small organisations do this better than large ones, so all the more credit to HMRC and the Health and Safety Executive for doing so well here.

The UK Government's record on accessibility however is not uniformly good, according to this latest research. Which makes us think - if the people who make the laws tell us websites, just like everything else, have to be accessible why is there apparently one rule for them and another for the rest of the UK? There's a clear case to say the politicians and civil service should put their own house in order, and quickly.

The full survey results are available now on the Sitemorse website.