HMRC has admitted it is still failing to bring customer service standards up to agreed target levels, although it is bringing in additional tax revenues, according to the latest performance report.

The department's half-yearly report includes provisional results which show HMRC collected more than £8.8bn in additional revenues from compliance activity during the period, which it says is its best-ever performance at this point in the year.

However, the report also notes that 'our customer service standards are below where we want them to be'. From April to September 2013, HMRC handled 72.7% of all call attempts. While this is an improvement on the same period last year, it is well below the target of 90%.

HMRC says there are a number of reasons for this, including technology-related issues, using extra people on the employer helpline to support the introduction of RTI and a very busy final week leading up to the tax credits renewal deadline on 31 July.

In addition, plans to introduce new automated speech features on the most popular phone lines were delayed while the service was fined tuned. Roll-out is now scheduled to begin this month.

Performance in handling mail also fell below the expected standards. HMRC reports that from April to September 2013, the department cleared 77% of post within 15 working days, which is below the 80% target, although improved from the April to June result of 70%.

HMRC says post-handling performance has been affected by a number of factors in the busy early part of the year, including the deployment of teams from post to phone lines during peak periods of customer demand.

The department says that more of its operational teams are being trained to deal flexibly with customer enquiries in whatever form they arrive, whether a phone call, letter or work item generated by the IT system, and it expects performance to continue improving throughout 2013-14.

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