Parliamentary watchdog accuses HMRC of deliberately ‘degrading’ phone services

WRLO Accountants — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 16:37:09 +0000

Parliament’s spending watchdog has accused HMRC of deliberately running down its phone services to force people to go online, according to a report. The Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report into HMRC’s customer service levels found that the average call waiting time has passed 23 minutes. It also found that 44,000 customers were cut off without warning after being on hold for more than an hour last year. The report said: ‘HMRC’s customer services have deteriorated even further since this Committee last reported a year ago.’ It continued: ‘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.’ It added: ‘HMRC has been too willing to let its telephone services fail in the hope this forces people to use its digital services instead.’ The PAC report made this recommendation: ‘HMRC should ensure it understands how far its digital services can replace telephone services and what level of telephone service it needs to retain to meet customers’ needs – including those of small […]

The post Parliamentary watchdog accuses HMRC of deliberately ‘degrading’ phone services appeared first on WRLO Accountants.

Taxpayers spend total of 800 years waiting to speak to HMRC

WRLO Accountants — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 19:36:33 +0000

UK taxpayers spent the equivalent of 800 years on hold to HMRC in 2022/23, according to a report published by the National Audit Office (NAO). The report found that funding pressures, job cuts and a push to reduce costs by encouraging people to manage their tax affairs online had all led to a poor call-handling performance by HMRC. The average time spent waiting on the phone to speak to an adviser in the 11 months to February 2024 was almost 23 minutes – well above the five minutes recorded in 2018/19. Altogether taxpayers spent 7 million hours, or 798 years, on hold to HMRC in 2022/23, according to the report. Customer service is in a ‘declining spiral’ at HMRC, which had not met its goals for responding to taxpayer correspondence or telephone calls for several years, the NAO added. The government has recently announced an extra £51 million in funding to help HMRC improve its telephone helplines. Gareth Davies, Head of the NAO, said: ‘HMRC’s telephone and correspondence services have been below its target service levels for too long. ‘While many of its digital services work well, they have not made enough of a difference to customers, some of whom […]

The post Taxpayers spend total of 800 years waiting to speak to HMRC appeared first on WRLO Accountants.

customer service Archives - WRLO Accountants

Parliamentary watchdog accuses HMRC of deliberately ‘degrading’ phone services

Taxpayers spend total of 800 years waiting to speak to HMRC