The UK tax administration HMRC has announced the allocation of GBP 45 million to improve aspects of its customer service functions. Three thousand additional staff are enlarging the customer service teams, as well as two thousand staff that are being transferred from other parts of HMRC to assist with the workload around the deadline for tax credits.
The latest statistics on handling calls published by HMRC reveal inconsistent results for handling calls in 2015. HMRC receives around 60 million calls each year, the peak times being 31 January which is the deadline for individual self assessment tax returns and 31 July, the deadline for tax credit renewals. According to the statistics 73% of calls were answered in the year, but the standards of customer service were inconsistent and in some months they fell a long way short of the target which is 80%. In some months the queue of calls was so long that customers were hearing the busy tone on the phone rather than joining the phone queue.
Although HMRC was successful in handling calls at the busiest peak times such as those for self assessment tax returns and tax credits they did not provide the consistent service that is targeted. According to HMRC however the beneficial effects of the new staff are already being seen. HMRC has also acquired new equipment to allow calls to be transferred to more offices rather than just being held in contact centers. In addition to this HMRC is introducing new online services to provide alternative way of dealing with HMRC.
