HMRC in ‘listening mode’ with attempts to improve service levels

It has almost been three months since the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released its damning report regarding HMRC’s customer service levels. Richard Wild, head of tax technical at the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), believes HMRC is now open to collaboration from the industry to attempt to improve the situation.

A report published on January 11, 2023, revealed that improvement of HMRC’s customer service will become far more challenging as inflationary pressures limit the tax body’s spending powers.

The following month HMRC held a stakeholder conference, debating how HMRC could enhance its customer service offering.

Wild, who attended the event, notes it was collaborative occasion, and HMRC was definitely in “listening mode.”

While Wild does not believe the PAC report was the catalyst for HMRC’s attempts to improve its customer service line, he does feel it was a required “kick up the backside.”

“I think they’ve had things in place and plans for quite some time to try and deliver service improvements, move to a digital plan, and to reduce the tax gap.

HMRC has downsized its customer service workforce from 25,500 to 19,500 in the past five years due to its push towards digitalisation.

Wild believes the significant cuts to HMRC’s staff numbers has reduced the effectiveness of its customer service line, something that he believes was “inevitable.”

“HMRC have cut staff numbers before the benefits of digitalisation has kicked in, so we’re taking a backward step in the meantime.”

A HMRC spokesperson says: “we encourage customers to use our improved digital services, including the online customer account and HMRC app, which are quick and easy to use, rather than waiting to speak to us on the phone.”

While the phone line for HMRC still needs a plan to improve, Wild says there have been general improvements since 2022, particularly to forms and correspondence.

A HMRC spokesperson says: “customer satisfaction is consistently around 80% and almost three-quarters of forms and claims are now processed within 15 working days, compared with 45.5% last year.”

HMRC and working from home  

The average waiting time for the HMRC self-assessment helpline in January was 27 minutes.

As per the latest Government data, HMRC had the lowest Whitehall department headquarters staff occupancy rates for the week commencing March 13 and the 2nd fewest for the week prior.

Although Jim Harra maintains that the high number of HMRC employees working from home are not an issue, Wild holds a conflicting view.

“There’s a suspicion or a feeling that people working from home isn’t working particularly well for HMRC. It’s not giving their people the same level of functionality that they have when they are in the office,” Wild notes.

“We do hear of calls getting cut off, or people not necessarily being able to deal with more complicated issues, or having access to the right systems, because they’re working at home rather than in the office.”

Wild believes HMRC has struggled to acquire the service levels they had before the pandemic, and the current service is still “below par.”

“The challenge is that the pre-Covid levels of service weren’t necessarily that great. They need to almost get back to pre-Covid levels and build on that,” he states.

Back in January, Peter Grant, a member of the PAC, said HMRC can’t continue to blame the pandemic for its customer service failings as its standards had begun to drop before the pandemic.

More: Accounting bodies: HMRC service levels ‘top priority’ for Spring Budget

The industry’s open letter  

On March 1, the ICAEW, ACCA, CIOT, and some other organisations penned an open letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning him about the significant disruption faced by taxpayers and businesses due to the Revenue’s declining service levels.

Wild reveals the CIOT has not received any formal response since the letter was sent.

CIOT can make suggestions to HMRC on methods to boost its customer service experience, like allowing agents to have a greater capacity to complete work digitally.

The challenge is taking the information HMRC gather and creating tangible solutions so they can enhance their offerings, notes Wild.

“They are quite receptive to those ideas, it’s just making sure we, we keep the energy behind them,” says Wild.