Enquiry centres 'facing a slow death'

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has hit out at HMRC cutbacks, claiming that individuals who need help with their tax affairs are facing ‘the slow death of the enquiry centre’.

The Revenue has 280 tax enquiry centres around the UK. Opening hours in 58 locations were reduced in March, and some are now open only one or two days a week. The taxman is currently consulting on plans to trim the hours of a further 117 centres, a measure that led recently to a protest by HMRC staff members.

Visits to enquiry centres have declined in recent years not because of a drop in demand for face-to-face advice, but because the recent restructuring of some locations’ hours has made advice harder to come by, claimed the LITRG, which works to represent taxpayers on low incomes.

The organisation has called on the Revenue to make its enquiry centre system readily accessible, provide a service in accordance with the department’s charter, and reinstate a high street presence by working in partnership with other government bodies – both central and local – and the voluntary sector.

In addition, the LITRG has urged the taxman to carry out a review of the voluntary sector to ensure that it is funded to meet the demand unfulfilled by Revenue advisers.

‘HMRC seem to believe that the reduction in footfall at enquiry centres is the consequence of a decline in demand for face-to-face services,’ said the LITRG’s technical director, Robin Williamson.

‘Our response, supported by voluntary sector experience, shows the converse: demand for face to face services remains high, but the inaccessibility and frequently poor quality of the service now provided by enquiry centres has caused that demand to flow instead to the voluntary sector.

‘A further scaling back of HMRC’s offering is therefore likely to lead directly to further increased demand on the voluntary sector, where face-to-face services continue to be available.’

Issue: 4260 / Categories: News