Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 26
26
We asked HMRC why response times were very poor at the end of 2020–21.
Conclusion
We asked HMRC why response times were very poor at the end of 2020–21. HMRC said in the first half of 2020–21 it had diverted 5,000 customer service staff to work on COVID-19 support schemes. HMRC also said that during this period it did not have backlogs. It told us that in the second half of 2020–21, its customer services team had to continue to support the COVID-19 support schemes and 3,000 additional customer service staff were diverted to work related to the UK leaving the EU. It also told us that it “stayed strong on the fundamentals of the tax system”, and it successfully managed the annual peaks in self-assessment and tax credits. It said that because of the priorities of paying money to vulnerable people, COVID-19 and customs, given the UK’s exit from the EU, it had to put other parts of tax activity to one side, and it started to build-up a “bit of a backlog”.47
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
6: PAC conclusion: Yet again customer service has collapsed and HMRC’s recovery plans are not clear. 6a: PAC recommendation: HMRC should, in its Treasury Minute response, explain: • the service levels it is aiming to provide and by when, including for the time taken to answer calls and respond to post, and commit to publishing outturn against these measures; 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2022 6.2 HMRC have been working through the stocks of correspondence that built up while the department’s resources were deployed on the COVID schemes, whilst keeping helpline service levels stable. Correspondence stock is on track to reduce to around 2 million by the end of Q4, back to pre-pandemic levels and to a level that should enable HMRC to achieve its service standards going forward. Performance across core service lines will have recovered by the start of 2022-23. Some other work areas will continue to recover in Q1 2022-23. HMRC have used some initiatives to help reduce correspondence stock levels; see paragraph 6.15 below for details. 6.3 HMRC’s expected performance levels and commitments for 2022-23, agreed with HM Treasury and ministers, will be presented in the Department’s Outcome Delivery Plan, to be published early in 2022-23. 6.4 HMRC publish performance data monthly and quarterly. This includes: • Percentage of Telephony Advisor Attempts Handled (AAH) • Average Speed of Answer (ASA) • Customers waiting more than 10 minutes for their telephone call to be answered Correspondence: percentage worked within 15 working days of receipt 6.5 AAH is HMRC’s primary telephony performance measure. It shows the percentage of those customers who want to speak to an advisor who get to do so (excludes calls handled by automated systems). 6.6 ASA measures the average time that customers wait for a reply. It captures service levels for customers who join a telephony queue (excludes those played a busy message). 6.7 Customer service on the phones is now measured by combining AAH, NetEasy and Customer Satisfaction; ASA is a supporting measure.