HMRC helpline criticised for long waiting times and cutting off callers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The tax man’s so-called helpline has been severely criticised in a new report.
Consumer watchdog Which? said little, if any improvement, had been made to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) helpline service since their July meeting with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when they received a scathing review for their long-waiting times and poor record of answering calls.
Tens of thousands of Britons will use the service in the coming weeks to complete their self-assessment tax returns before the 31 January deadline.
Lin Homer, chief executive, claimed that HMRC was improving its phones services.
Twenty-nine percent of the calls Which? members made were cut off by an automated answering system; frustrated callers were informed that the cause of this was the helplines being “very busy”.
In the 71 instances where callers were not cut off, they were then put on hold for an average of 18 minutes before getting through to an advisor, in one case the caller was left waiting for 41 minutes.
PAC chairwoman Margaret Hodge condemned the HMRC phone line service, saying: “Customers of Government services should be able to contact those services easily and cheaply.”
HMRC was also criticised in the July meeting for costing callers £136m a year by not answering telephone inquiries, despite investing £900m in customer service following criticism lodged in 2012.
Official figures that show 74.5 per cent of calls to HMRC were answered over the last year, compared with their target of 80 per cent.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments