TAXMAN ‘WORSE THAN ABYSMAL’
As callers wait 38 minutes to get through, MPs’ verdict
TAXPAYERS are facing an ‘appalling’ average delay of 38 minutes to get through to the HMRC helpline. Despite promises of improved services and more staff, waiting times have more than doubled over the past year, with the average rising from 18 to 38 minutes.
Researchers found it can take as long as 76 minutes to speak to an official. By then some callers will already have run up a bill of more than £34, because the taxman’s two 0300 helplines cost up to 45p a minute on a mobile phone.
The findings confirmed concerns raised by MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, who have called HMRC’s services ‘worse than abysmal’.
The delays come at a time when many are seeking advice ahead of the January 31 selfassessment deadline.
Yesterday the committee’s chairman pointed out that members of the public – who face fines of £ 100 if they end up missing the January deadline – do not have the time or the money to wait such an ‘appalling’ amount of time.
During September and October a team of researchers from consumer champion Which? made 100 calls to the taxman – 50 to HMRC’s general enquiries helpline and 50 to their self-assessment helpline.
The survey found that the wait tended to get longer later in the day. Before 2pm the average wait was 28 minutes, but after 6pm it rose to 61 minutes. When the same study
was carried out last year, the average waiting time was 18 minutes – although nearly a third of calls were cut off before anyone picked up.
HMRC has now changed its phone system to allow people to hold for longer. This has reduced the number of callers being cut off, but leaves them potentially facing far more expensive telephone bills.
A separate survey of Which? members who have rung HMRC within the past 12 months found that six in ten would ideally not want to wait more than five minutes to have their call answered.
Yesterday the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Labour MP Meg Hillier, said the Which? survey had been carried out at the same time officials were telling her committee that the service was improving.
‘The record is appalling. It is clear the service was not getting better. It is a pretty basic requirement to get customer service right,’ she said, adding: ‘It is vital that HMRC offers a good, timely service to people who are trying to do the right thing in terms of getting advice and paying their taxes.’
Yesterday Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: ‘Our findings show how difficult it is to get through to HMRC’s helplines with people facing lengthy waits. With many people seeking advice on their self- assessment tax return, HMRC must continue to work hard to improve customer service and reduce call waiting times.’
But a spokesman from HMRC insisted the Which? research from the autumn was ‘out of date’. They added: ‘Our service levels were not good enough at busy periods earlier this year, and we have apologised for the inconvenience caused to our customers.
‘We then took major steps to improve, including the recruitment of 3,000 new staff. Our service significantly improved over the recent months, with the average queue time now around six minutes, and we expect service levels to continue to rise.’
The spokesman added: ‘Like last year, we will be putting even more people on phone lines over the next few weeks to support customers who are completing their self-assessment tax return.’
They went on to say: ‘ While it’s right that we are there on the phone when people need us, in the future there will be less need to call us as people will be able to do much more online through digital accounts.’
However, George Bull, a senior partner at the tax consultant firm RSM, said: ‘ Things have got so bad that a recent report from the Public Accounts Committee suggested that this woeful performance is hindering HMRC’s ability to collect the right amount of tax.
‘We keep hearing assurances from HMRC that they are taking steps to tackle this problem, but we never seem to see any improvement.’
He added: ‘ They need to make sure they don’t take their eye off the ball when it comes to the day-to-day operational challenges which can make life so difficult for taxpayers who simply want to pay the right amount of tax.’
The results of the study come as HMRC is today accused of going after small firms while letting huge multinationals get away with avoiding many millions of pounds in tax.
Public spending watchdog the National Audit Office said Britain loses £16billion a year to tax fraud – but still more money fails to reach the Treasury because of the aggressive but legal tax avoidance schemes used by companies such as Google and Amazon.
WORSE than abysmal. That withering verdict on HMRC’s services, passed by a Commons committee, is resoundingly confirmed by the finding that callers to the taxman’s helpline are kept waiting an
average of 38 minutes to get through to an adviser.
With some kept on hold for more than an hour – and phone charges of up to 12p a minute from a landline, and 45p from a mobile – this is no better than theft.
Isn’t it staggering that the bosses who preside over this disgrace are allowed to keep their jobs?