HMRC has announced plans to spend up to £34m and recruit 1,000 additional staff in order to improve the performance of its call centres and cut customer waiting times.

Chief executive Lin Homer, said the extra investment means the department will achieve its target of answering 90% of all calls by the end of March 2013, two years earlier than originally planned.

Currently HMRC has 17 contact centres based across the UK, employing 8,500 staff, handling around 60m calls a year. Call centre response rates are running at 74% of all calls in 2011/12, up from 48% in 2010/11.

Exchequer secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said: 'Although there has been an improvement in contact centre performance over the last couple of years, too many callers have faced unacceptable delays in getting through. I welcome this announcement which should result in a much improved service.'

Homer said HMRC will spend an additional £9m this year and up to £25m in 2013-14 in order to reduce call waiting times 'drastically' and create 'a much more responsive HMRC'.

ICAEW Tax Faculty chairman Paul Aplin, who is a member of the joint initiative on HMRC service delivery, described the decision as 'a really encouraging step forward.'

Get the latest news in your inbox. Sign up to receive the Accountancy Live e-newsletter, HERE