£144K VOICE-OVERKILL

Sunak rapped on bill for tax helpline messages

RISHI Sunak’s Treasury team has blown £144,000 on a voice artist to read out tax helpline messages at a breathtaking £1 per word.

HM Revenue and Customs signed a three-year deal with London agency Mazaru to provide “top-notch quality” and the same voice artist

TAXING TIME Mr Sunak every time. In contract documents, HMRC said: “We would like to retain the services of the same artist to ensure consistency of customer experience... and continuity in tone.”

Some 1,500 messages were proposed at up to 100 words a go – almost £100 per message. The contract refers to the female artist in question as “Sam” and says she must be the voice for all HMRC recordings.

Sam is required to record at short notice, in case of policy change or events such as Covid or Brexit.

The contract adds: “If Sam is unavailable, the supplier must provide a voice artist with a similar voice. Once Sam has returned, the supplier will re-record messages at their own cost, using Sam.”

Mazaru, which boasts of working among “creative and tech types”, has staff in roles such as Happiness Ninja and Head of Customer Wow.

Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner said the “obscene waste” shows Chancellor Mr Sunak is “completely out of touch”. She added: “When small business owners ring they’ll want urgent help with the crippling effects of Treasury tax hikes, not some professional voice artist telling them where they are in the queue.”

HMRC said: “Our helplines handle millions of calls. Like most large service organisations, we use professionals to make sure our messages are clear and easy to understand.”