Scathing Public Accounts Committee report about HMRC

eskbanker

 It won't be news to many on here but the report published today is grim reading:

HMRC’s customer services have deteriorated even further since this Committee last reported a year ago. In 2023–24, HMRC answered just 66.4% of customers’ attempts to speak to an adviser, against a target of 85%. Average call waiting times exceeded 23 minutes. HMRC says it has not been adequately resourced to meet telephone demand from customers, but it must take responsibility for its own failings to offer sufficiently effective digital services to customers. We are concerned that it has sought to degrade its telephone service to drive taxpayers to digital channels.

HMRC’s treatment of taxpayers has damaged trust in the tax system. It cuts off calls after customers have been waiting 70 minutes, without any explanation. It does not provide a callback option. It cannot provide callers with accurate information on expected call waiting times. It planned to close helplines with just two days’ notice to taxpayers, and then reversed its decision when there was an entirely predictable public backlash. HMRC blames the technology of its telephone system for some of these limitations - a system that HMRC procured itself.

HMRC has been relying on its move to digital services to fix its customer service problems, but year after year this Committee has heard the same issues. Despite HMRC’s assurances over the quality and customer satisfaction of its digital services, HMRC still received 37 million calls in 2023–24, 66% of which HMRC said could have been dealt with online instead. Given the difficulties that taxpayers face trying to get through on the telephone, we have doubts that HMRC’s digital services are as good as HMRC claims. In Spring 2025 it plans to publish a roadmap for further development of its digital services.

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/46301/documents/233200/default/

uknick

No great surprise.  The public want tax cuts so they are happy to see government departments cut in size which can only lead to reduced customer service when they target front facing jobs.  Then, to compound it with regard to HMRC, introduce systems where more and more people, with none of the perquisite skills, have to complete tax returns.  Perfect storm.

I wonder how much worse it would be if sites such as this didn't exist with its cohort of experienced people willing to help with only the occasional word of thanks for their efforts.

And before this turns into a political debate, private companies are doing exactly the same, hence the significant reduction in their customer service teams.  The only headline difference in their motivation is profit generation instead of just cost cutting.

PensionsQuery

37 millions calls is a staggering amount, especially given the wealth of information available online.

It's only going to get worse, too, given the mixture of ever increasing complexity and fiscal drag.

SnowMan

I got through yesterday to HMRC to tell them they were trying to pay me a £3,500 tax refund I wasn't actually due, because they had overlooked they had paid me back over £3,000 a year ago. Staggering that they could do this, I was only a few clicks away from getting the refund. Instead I rang them, and I eventually got through on the phone only to be cut off after I was then put on hold. Rang again and the person answering couldn't help at all. Just said she would refer my issue to another team who would call me back. They didn't.

They wrote to me at the end of last year asking for further information in relation to an R40 which they claim was wrong because it contained net interest (it wasn't wrong as the net interest was from an estate distribution where interest was paid net of tax). The letter said it was closing down my claim.  After I rang them and eventually got through, they said they couldn't talk to me about what information they wanted to process the claim. So I had to write to them but they misfiled my letters and consequently closed down my R40 claim. After I rang them and discovered they had misfiled my letters, they found the letters, but then sent me a letter asking for information which had been set out in my earlier letters which they clearly hadn't read. They now insist on me submitting the R40 again, presumably because they closed down the original claim despite me telling them not to. They are completely unapologetic and blame what has happened on me. You get the feeling there is no quality control in place at all, the advisers I've spoken to seem to think they can do and say what they like, and there is no willingness to resolve anything. Just my experience.

Their issues extend well beyond the difficulties of getting through on their helpline.

TMSG

uknick said:

And before this turns into a political debate, private companies are doing exactly the same, hence the significant reduction in their customer service teams.  The only headline difference in their motivation is profit generation instead of just cost cutting.

True enough but I (normally) have a choice as to which private sector service provider to use and in some cases I could even decide to forego a service completely. I have no such choice at all when it comes to my tax returns.
The word "customer" in this respect is a complete misnomer. How about "victim" or "sufferer" or even "prey"?

molerat

A few years back they refunded me at end of year the same amount they had refunded via in year reclaim.  They wouldn't have it they were wrong.  Paid the class 3 needed to top up my pension.  They haven't changed, just slower at being rubbish.

eskbanker

PensionsQuery said:

37 millions calls is a staggering amount, especially given the wealth of information available online.

It's only going to get worse, too, given the mixture of ever increasing complexity and fiscal drag.

I found this chart showing call volumes and waiting times over previous years - the 2023/24 volumes actually dropped slightly from the previous year, and are a long way below historical highs, but answering times have deteriorated badly if 23 minutes is the current average:


https://www.taxwatchuk.org/telephone-hmrc-customer-service/

If HMRC asserts that 66% of calls could have been dealt with online instead, the question that obviously needs to be asked is why they weren't, which presumably says more about their online offering than a reluctance on behalf of the taxpayers to use what ought to be a simpler alternative....

Albermarle

If HMRC asserts that 66% of calls could have been dealt with online instead, the question that obviously needs to be asked is why they weren't, which presumably says more about their online offering than a reluctance on behalf of the taxpayers to use what ought to be a simpler alternative....

My guess is that a large number of the calls could have been handled online in theory, but in practice for many issues you need a basic level of knowledge about how tax codes, PAYE etc work . This knowledge is lacking in the majority of people, so they have to call.
Presumably a lot of the queries are very basic.

sheramber

In many cases people do not trust online and want the reassurance of speaking to a person. 

eskbanker

sheramber said:

In many cases people do not trust online and want the reassurance of speaking to a person. 

....which is ironic when verbal guidance from underpaid, underinformed and undermotivated customer service agents is so often less accurate and reliable than what's published online!  Not just talking about HMRC, but many other businesses too....

sheramber

eskbanker said:

sheramber said:

In many cases people do not trust online and want the reassurance of speaking to a person. 

....which is ironic when verbal guidance from underpaid, underinformed and undermotivated customer service agents is so often less accurate and reliable than what's published online!  Not just talking about HMRC, but many other businesses too....

Yep. 

That’s humans for you.