2015 - Who hasn’t been on hold to a HMRC helpline?
30 June 2015
30 June 2015
Rhian Lloyd, Employment Tax and HR Consultant at Aspire, comments on the frustrating task of making a telephone call to HM Revenue and Customs (‘HMRC’).
Recent reports state that HMRC has failed to answer 18 million calls from the public during the last year. It was reported HMRC has had to divert £45m of cash to fix service levels in its call centres in response to the millions of unanswered calls. HMRC has said that a £45m investment will come from current HMRC funding rather than from additional revenue from the Treasury.
It is believed that HMRC has allocated 3,000 extra frontline staff to tackle the lengthy phone queues; therefore we hope that the extra staff will be a long-term addition to ensure that waiting times begin to reduce and do so permanently! The 3,000 new recruits join a customer service team that already employs 15,000 individuals.
Figures revealed 10.5 million calls went to an answering machine, while 7.4 million customers hung up due to being on hold for long periods of time. I can vouch for this on the basis that, far too often, my colleagues or I sit through the spiel of the HMRC automated voice messages, only to then to be told how busy they are and to call back later, before being hung up on. In our experience, when we do get to join the queue, we can routinely be on hold for a period between 30 and 45 minutes!
HMRC’s target for calls answered is 80%; however statistics show that only 73% of calls were answered last year. Surprisingly these latest figures for 2013-14 are a vast improvement, as only 48% of calls were answered in 2010-11!
Recently, we have experienced particular problems with HMRC’s Construction Industry Scheme (‘CIS’) Helpline. This department within HMRC seems to be slightly behind with the times as we have to correspond with CIS officials via fax or post and we are not given direct telephone lines nor email addresses. As we have regular dealings with the department it can become incredibly laborious sending faxes to request call backs that never come, exacerbating the process and causing further delay.
HMRC receives more than 60 million calls per year, which peak around deadlines such as January 31st for Self-Assessment and July 31st for Tax Credits renewals. HMRC are attempting to release the pressure from the incoming calls by urging individuals to use their online services, such as renewing Tax Credits online and are pre-empting pressure on the system by temporarily moving 2,000 staff from other parts of HMRC to help with the upcoming Tax Credits deadline.
Although the online service option does suit many individuals who prefer to complete tasks online the telephone system remains the preferred method for many to sort out their tax affairs. As such, it needs to provide and effective and cost efficient service. The ‘03000’ number typically costs 9p a minute from landlines and from 8p to 40p a minute from mobiles, meaning that, a routine hold of 30 minutes could cost as much as £12.00!
HMRC must prioritise customer service so that taxpayers are not put at a disadvantage by being unable to get through to an adviser.
One last thing - I would also recommend that HMRC change their hold music just to spice it up for people like us who have to hear it multiple times throughout the week! There are many songs with ‘Waiting’ in the title. Perhaps they could just play them on a loop!!