Labour condemns 'disastrous' HMRC cuts after millions of taxpayer calls go unanswered

Labour has raised concern over a "disastrous and misguided programme of cuts" at HM Revenue and Customs after it emerged that millions of taxpayers have been unable to speak to staff.

Official figures show more than four million calls to the HMRC helpline went unanswered in the last year, accounting for more than one in ten of calls to the taxman during that time.

Around 14 per cent of callers had to wait more than 10 minutes for an answer from HMRC as staffing levels and resources have been cut by 17 per cent since 2010, according to analysis of monthly performance reports.

The percentage of phone calls HMRC staff have answered has fallen by 4.5 per cent from 94 per cent last February to 89.5 per cent in February 2018.

It comes amid growing concern of HMRC's ability to cope with influx of demand after Brexit, with MPs warning the number of customs declarations it could be forced to process each year could increase almost five-fold, from 55m to 225m.

Responding to the figures, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Peter Dowd, said: “If people call up to pay their taxes they should be able to get through, and given that the deficit still hasn't been eliminated you would think this would be a top priority for the chancellor.

"Instead it appears that taxpayers are being made to pay the price of Tory mismanagement and underfunding of HMRC.

"HMRC’s falling performance is further evidence of this Conservative Government’s disastrous and misguided programme of cuts."

He said "chronic under-staffing and under-resourcing" of HMRC under the Conservatives was having real consequences on the effectiveness of the tax system.

Ministers were accused of letting down the self-employed, who are more reliant on HMRC advise than large firms.

Andrew Chamberlain, deputy director of policy at the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, said: “The self-employed don’t have an army of consultants and experts to assist them with complex matters of tax, and they rely on HMRC to provide them with timely assistance.

“Time spent on the phone is time the self-employed and independent professionals aren’t earning money.

“These problems are only going to get worse if the government continues to introduce more complex and more burdensome legislation which affects the self-employed.”

An HMRC spokesman said: "We have improved our customer service standards enormously over the last two years.

"Our phone call handling has got better, with the average response time falling from 12 minutes in 2015-16 to below five minutes for the past two years.

"Time in the automated telephony system is valuable because it ensures customers are directed to the right person to deal with their question, or get their question answered through the automated system.

"The National Audit office last year recognised a large number of organisations use the same measures as HMRC."