has improved efficiency and customer experience.

HMRC robots are programmed pieces of software that process items in the same way as humans would. They work repetitive jobs, freeing up staff to undertake more meaningful, complex and interesting work, the kind of work that requires decision-making and human judgement.

The tax authority says the 10m milestone marks significant progress for HMRC’s IT project team as it works towards greater automation of the functions that do not require human input.

Jacky Wright, HMRC chief digital & information officer, said: ‘This is a major milestone towards HMRC’s digital transformation, where we are now deploying the most advanced IT to improve the accuracy and speed of our services. HMRC aims to be the world's most digitally advanced tax authority, and by making our 10 millionth transaction by a robot, we are making great progress towards that goal.

‘We have over 50 different automations working across our IT estate. By automating simple and repetitive tasks, we are able to free up our staff to undertake more meaningful and interesting work that requires decision making and human intelligence. The public is getting a better service and HMRC is doing its work more efficiently.’

As an example, HMRC uses automation to process requests for tax rebates for customers. The robot receives the request online, processes the forms, most of them on day of receipt, and automatically sends a letter out in the post.

HMRC also uses robots to process information that customers submit online about their change in circumstances. Until recently, even though the forms were digitally available online, they still required a lot of human action to move them through the process. Now robots process the forms automatically after receiving them, ensuring customers receive a much quicker turn around on the information provided to HMRC.

Report by Pat Sweet