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The taxman is to recruit 1,000 additional contact centre staff members, in an effort to reduce waiting times for taxpayers
The aim of the department's employment drive is to be able to answer 90% of all calls by 2013/14, according to the Revenue's chief executive, Lin Homer.
Additional investment of £9m is planned for 2012/13 and up to £25m in 2013/14 to reach the call centre industry standard two years earlier than previously pledged before Parliament’s Treasury select committee.
The decision to invest in extra workers was taken after close consultation with the joint initiative on HMRC service delivery (JIHSD), which involves professional bodies and tax charities.
While call centre performance has improved, from 48% of calls being handled in 2010/11 to 74% in 2011/12, HMRC and JIHSD agreed more effort needed to be undertaken.
JIHSD member Paul Aplin of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales said the Revenue has agreed ‘not only to publish call centre statistics, but [also] to take immediate action to improve performance.
‘This is a significant and very welcome move, and I expect the initiative to deliver more such improvements going forward.’
At least it made me chuckle!
The paper version of this article appears to be slightly different in that it started off……
“Some 1,000 additional staff are to be recruited to HMRC’s contact centre to help provide an improved service for taxpayers. HMRC chief executive Lin Homer said the aim is to answer 90% of all calls, two years earlier than planned”
I know HMRC can be slow at times, but more than two years to answer a phone call!!!