Steps under way to improve the complaints process

HMRC and the Valuation Office Agency have published their response to the Adjudicator’s Office annual report for 2020-21 published in June.

The report showed that the number of HMRC complaints escalated to the adjudicator had increased in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 although this was largely accounted for by problems with the Covid-19 support schemes.

The complaints upheld in this respect were lower than average but HMRC says it has taken ‘a learning approach to its complaint handling by using this feedback to make it easier for the customers to understand when they were eligible for a grant and for advisers to administer the new Covid-19 support schemes’.

More generally the report highlighted two areas where HMRC could improve the way it handles complaints.

The first was the relatively high number of complaints escalated to the adjudicator...