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The taxman’s call-handling remains inadequate in spite of progress made over the past two years, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO).
HMRC have pulled up service levels from a low point in 2010, when problems with the new PAYE system increased the number of queries, but the current performance nevertheless represents poor value for money, says the NAO.
The report, Customer Service Performance, recognises that the Revenue dealt with long-term backlogs by employing 2,500 temporary staff, enhancing phone technology and improving productivity; the department answered 74% of phone calls in 2011/12, exceeding a provisional target of 58%.
But the level of service was not satisfactory, with 20m calls – including additional attempts by taxpayers who were not successful on their first attempt – going answered.
Callers who got through to the taxman in 2011/12 had to wait on average 282 seconds before speaking to an adviser; between April and September 2011, 6.5m taxpayers were in hold for more than ten minutes.
The NAO estimates that a total of £33m was incurred in call charges by members of the public waiting in phone queues – part of the reason being that most of HMRC’s numbers have the high-charge 0845 prefix.
The tax department is investigating alternatives as it negotiates its new telephony contract, and estimates that taxpayers would save £13m annually if cheaper 03 numbers were introduced across all customer services.
The Revenue has acknowledged its unacceptable level of services to the public, said NAO head Amyas Morse, who added that the department “faces difficult decisions about whether it should aspire to meet the service performance standards of a commercial organization.
“It could do so only by spending significantly more money or becoming substantially more cost effective,” said Morse.
