HMRC 15-times slower than benefits office

Callers to Universal Credit helpline were dealt with 15 times quicker than people ringing tax office for help

UNIVERSAL CREDIT claimants can get through to the Government’s benefit helpline 15 times faster than taxpayers contacting HM Revenue and Customs, the latest figures show.

In May last year, Guy Opperman, then minister for employment, confirmed that the average wait for callers to the Universal Credit helpline was just one minute 28 seconds in March 2023 and 3 minutes 39 seconds in April 2023. The March figure was almost 15 times faster than the time taxpayers waited on the HMRC helpline, which was 21 minutes on average.

In April, they waited nearly 24 minutes on average, a record at the time and almost seven times as long as benefit claimants. HMRC has since broken its own record with the average exceeding 25 minutes in January 2024.

According to separate figures there were more than one million calls a month to the Universal Credit helpline last spring. There were 1,345,024 calls in March 2023 and 1,213,815 in April 2023. This is around half of the calls the tax office received, with 2,930,718 in March and 2,498,964 in April. However, the wait times for the taxpayer are pro- portionally much higher.

HMRC has come under fire in recent weeks after its latest figures revealed it missed almost a million calls in January during peak self-assessment season.

The embattled service was yesterday told to “pause” plans to close its phone lines for almost six months after Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, intervened.

HMRC is working to improve customer service, which MPS say has fallen to the lowest levels on record.

Last year, it created a special taskforce to deal with the backlog of correspondence and had to deny that workers answer fewer calls from home after it emerged that two in five staff at regional HMRC centres did not go into the office at all in the year to March.

About 5.9 million people claimed Universal Credit in March last year, with the same amount claiming in April. It has now risen to 6.5 million as of February 2024.

The Telegraph has asked the Department for Work and Pensions for the latest call figures for the Universal Credit helpline.

Sir Jacob Rees-mogg, the former business secretary, said: “HMRC used to be extremely efficient, but it seems to have lost its way. The only major change that has happened is working from home. Working from home leads to idleness.

HMRC said it “continues to encourage people to use online services”.

A spokesman said: “It’s nonsensical to compare call wait times in this way, as there are around 6.4 million Universal Credit claimants compared with around 35 million people who pay income tax alone.

“We continue to encourage people to use our highly-rated online services wherever possible, so they can get their queries resolved quickly and easily. This allows our expert advisers to focus on helping those who need one-to-one support, including the digitally excluded and the vulnerable.”