The Public Accounts Committee, responsible for overseeing government expenditure, has previously criticized HMRC’s customer service levels, deeming them “unacceptable.”
According to HMRC’s performance data, the average call waiting times at the tax office have more than tripled in the last year, increasing from five minutes 14 seconds in 2020-21 to 16 minutes 24 seconds. In the last quarter of the 2022-23 financial year, average wait times exceeded 20 minutes.
Demand for phone services grew by 9% in the last financial year. HMRC acknowledges in its accounts that it will take some time to encourage taxpayers to utilize its digital-only services as it continues to temporarily or permanently close phone lines.
Recently, the tax office closed its self-assessment helpline for the summer and permanently closed its VAT helpline earlier this year. To meet the increased demand, HMRC plans to hire 1,630 temporary staff each month between April and September.
Despite the recruitment of new staff, the tax office has reduced its customer-facing workforce from 25,500 to 19,500 over the past five years due to the implementation of digital systems.
According to HMRC data, only 47% of staff were working in the office on average in June. At one point in February, the percentage of staff in the office dropped as low as 11%.
Meanwhile, HMRC’s annual report reveals that approximately £5 billion of Government-backed Covid-19 loans were lost to fraud last year. However, the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, established after the pandemic, has only recovered around £520 million of fraudulent loans so far.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
