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MSE News: HMRC customer service 'worse than abysmal'
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Former_MSE_Paloma
Posts: 531 Forumite
HMRC's level of customer service is now so unacceptably poor that it could be a "threat to tax collection"...
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HMRC customer service 'worse than abysmal'
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HMRC customer service 'worse than abysmal'
Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.
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Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. When you see news that civil servants are being laid off and budgets for pay for them are cut, do you know who that affects? Not the fat cats at the top, its the people who answer the calls and actually do the day to day work in taxes, tax credits, self assessment etc. It's them who now get paid less than staff working in a supermarket. It's them who have had a pay cut for the past 4+ years. If that was you, would you stay there or would you work somewhere where you are valued and paid reasonably? Oh and its them of course who get the brunt of the bad attitude and rudeness when people call in a bad mood because they couldn't get through.Saving money like a trouper...0
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The starting pay for a customer service role in the HMRC is £18,415, recent advert for personal tax contact centre job0
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Lidl for one. Actually they pay £9.50 in my area (not in London). Plus more holidays, same pension, discount on shopping etc etc. In fact, if working unsocial hours, other supermarkets are pretty much the same rate of pay too.Saving money like a trouper...0
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You're missing my point. My point (as said in my first post) is that staff cuts are not at the top levels, they are at the bottom. Processing staff, call centre staff etc. Yes they have increased staff numbers since the period when this article is based but that doesn't solve the issue as during the busy period, staff are taken off their own line of business to go on the busy line (as an example, taxes and SA staff take tax credit calls July-Aug, tax credits and taxes staff take SA calls Dec-Jan) leaving the lines short of staff at pretty much every time of year. Even processing staff have to take calls in peak period, meaning little processing is done on time. Look at the self assessment mess this year!
I'm not causing an argument about the rate of pay of staff, that was just a point that they dont get more (or much more to be pedantic) than anyone else so you have a lot of "natural wastage" of staff leaving but not being replaced thanks to budget cuts. And it these staff that are the front line.Saving money like a trouper...0 -
Why should HMRC provide good customer service?
If people don't pay the correct amount of tax or they pay it late then HMRC just issue a penalty and laugh all the way to the Treasury.
There is simply no incentive for HMRC to provide any customer service; they are in a win-win situation with considerable powers of enforcement. Power without responsibility.
Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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I find it difficult to understand how something could be judged as abysmal if it doesn't actually exist any more.
Maybe the autocorrect spelling slipped up. Abolished, not abysmal.0 -
What sort of answer/excuse is that?blondebubbles wrote: »Because HMRC do far more than just deal with the people who don't pay the correct amount at the correct time.
So what is the incentive for HMRC to provide taxpayer service? (if we were customers, we would take our custom elsewhere).Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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I see you have taken the criticism of HMRC personally.blondebubbles wrote: »I don't need an incentive to be as polite and as helpful as I can.
It's not your fault. It's their system. Thank-you Gordon Brown.Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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We need to simplify the tax system.
But politicians don't really want that because then we would see how much they are fleecing us.
They prefer 'giveaways' to the groups most likely to vote.“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” --Upton Sinclair0
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