Tax Credit's I can't get through the security questions

[Deleted User]

Contact Centre

[Deleted User]

I do have to say that it is a pain in the @ss that we dont actually get to see the award notices that are issued.

Advisers are told to tell people to check award notices, bank statements and P60's for information. Which is sometimes pointless when they cant get all of this information from these sources unless they have their bank statements from when they started claiming and they work for the same employer who gave them a p60.

If it really doesnt show the emplyer on the award then I agree with everyone that it is a joke.

[Deleted User]

I feel that I am under pressure a bit in this thread as most people are slating the security procedures and/or advisers.

As I have stated, we dont like the security procedures either.

And I am in here to try to give advice

Squirrel29

Thanks for your help Subsoniccoyote, I don't think people mean to attack you personally but it is sooooo frustrating when you hang on the phone for half an hour and then fail the security questions and are told to call back to try again.:mad:

I finally managed to crack the security questions this week to inform them my wages were higher this year than estimated. It took several attempts and I only passed because I had to ring round the my company to find out my employers tax reference number, therefore I wasn't asked the mystical "what is the date you started receiving it" question.

Tax credits would have been the first to moan had I started receiving too much money from this April, but not through want to trying to inform them! I think we should have some fun and put together more security questions they could ask us...

a), what was the ascending sign in your child's chart at the time of birth?
b) what is your managing director's second cousin's middle name?

:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I think people should have the ability to take ID to a local enquiry centre in order to set up a password.

Name, address, DOB & password.

This would be much easier for callers and advisers but with millions of people going to enquiry centres it would take ages to set up and cause a lot more work for staff in the enquiry centres.

System

We have loads of customers coming into our enquiry centre to use the free phone to call TCO and when they fail security, as many now do, we try to fit them inbetween our appointments providing they do have 2 forms of ID with them.

Failing that we make appointments for them to return within the next couple of days. When we actually get them sitting at a desk and have confirmed their identity we can check their claim, try to deal with their query and give them the answers to the security questions so that they don't have problems getting through on the phone the next time.:)

[Deleted User]

Helpline advisers are NOT allowed to tell people to go to Enquiry Centres or to send in queries and changes of circumstances by post as this is telling people how to "bypass" our security.

Fran

subsoniccoyote wrote: »

Helpline advisers are NOT allowed to tell people to go to Enquiry Centres or to send in queries and changes of circumstances by post as this is telling people how to "bypass" our security.

So does that mean that people who should be entitled to more won't get it and people will get overpayments even though they try to get through and don't know what to do next? Surely HMRC have some obligation to these people? It's too easy to say "I don't know" to one of the questions if you don't happen to have the information asked to hand. For instance when I failed the questions as far as I was concerned it was only on the question of my full name but if you fail on two then I must have said "I don't know". Are HMRC acting legally by making it so difficult for people? Haven't they got some legal responsibility to help people avoid hardship? (I appreciate you might not know the answer subsonic but someone might.)

System

I can only talk about those people who regularly chose to visit the HMRC Enquiry centre to use the free phone rather than sit at home and run up a telephone bill trying to get through to various HMRC departments.

If those customers, be they TCO , PAYE or anything else, fail security on the phone whilst in the office and can provide 2 forms of ID (1 photographic and 1 with a current address) we can either try to slot them in, depending on how full the appointments diary is, or make an appointment for them. By requesting and inspecting the ID we ensure that we have fulfilled our strict guidelines with regard to data security issues before we access their record.

Obviously those people failing security in the comfort of their own homes may not be aware that an Enquiry centre can help them.

[Deleted User]

If someone asks if they can go to an EC or send in the details by letter we can tell them to "do so if they wish".
We are not lying to them and saying they cant do this, we just cant tell them how to get round the questioning.

But as I said, I wish we could send them to an EC with ID.