As HMRC gears up for its busiest busy period for enquiries in the run-up to the tax return deadline, an undercover test has found HMRC’s tax helplines are still performing poorly, with nearly a third of calls cut off because the system was too busy, and long waits for those who do get through
Consumer organisation Which? carried out an assessment of HMRC response rates, following complaints from its members about difficulties in contacting the department. Its researchers made 100 calls to the main HMRC helplines, covering for self-assessment for general queries, spaced out across a week and at different times of the day.
Of the calls made, 29% were cut off before the caller got through to an adviser, with the automated switchboard providing the message: 'We're very busy right now...We're sorry we can't deal with your call at the moment. Goodbye.'
Which? also reported callers had some difficulty in using HMRC’s voice recognition system for calls, which was brought in to replace numbered options in a bid to cut overall call times by directing enquirers to an appropriate adviser.
Callers found that the voice-recognition system understood obvious tax terms quickly, but more general questions sometimes caused problems.
For example, when one called asked: 'Is there any tax to pay on premium bond winnings?' the system suggested they wanted help with a VAT surcharge notice.
Once the automated system has detected the reason for the call, it puts callers on hold until an adviser is free.
On average, the test callers were kept waiting for 18 minutes, although in one instance the wait was 41 minutes and in another instance the caller got through in just over two minutes. Waiting times were shortest early in the day and longest in the afternoon and evenings. Fewer early morning calls were cut off.
Which? points out that that its calls were made in late September and early October, before the busiest months of December and January, and says the level of cut-off calls seems high. In its most recent performance statistics, HMRC itself admitted it was failing to hit its target of answering 80% of calls, with September’s success rate just 74.5%.
In a separate survey of more than 1,000 Which? members, 20% who had contacted HMRC in the last year said they found contacting them difficult, compared with 15% of those who contacted the Department of Work and Pensions, 12% who contacted their local authority and 8% who contacted the DVLA.
An HMRC spokesman said: ‘HMRC receives over 40m calls a year, but we know that some of our customers can struggle to get through on our helplines at very busy times. This isn't good enough, and we are working hard to improve the range of services we provide.
‘This year we are introducing new technology to help us answer more calls quicker at busy times and we are improving the digital services we offer so that more customers can find all they need online.’
