HMRC ‘degrading its own services as a matter of policy’
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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been accused by a public spending watchdog of degrading its own services “as a matter of policy” and damaging public confidence in the tax system. Concerns about a deteriorating service, uncollectable debt and a reduction in prosecutions were highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The PAC said it is concerned that the tax authority has sought to degrade its telephone service to drive taxpayers to digital channels. But HMRC hit back strongly, with Jim Harra, First Permanent Secretary and chief executive of the revenue body describing the committee’s claims around HMRC’s customer service as “completely baseless”.
Mr Harra said: “The committee’s claims about our customer service are completely baseless. In reality, we’ve made huge improvements to our service standards, with call wait times down by 17 minutes since April last year. “We will always be there to answer the phone for those who need extra help. At the same time, more than 80% of customers are satisfied with our digital services, with more and more people using them to quickly and easily manage their tax affairs.”.
It is understood that Mr Harra has written to the PAC to rebut the implication that HMRC has deliberately made its customer service worse. HMRC said its latest figures show call wait times have fallen to around 11 minutes, compared with around 28 minutes in April 2024.
