Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
We asked HMRC why call handling performance had been declining before COVID-19.
Conclusion
We asked HMRC why call handling performance had been declining before COVID-19. HMRC told us that it was resourced to give a “decent” rather than “brilliant” service and it had efficiencies that it had to deliver. It said that although some phone contact was very important to HMRC and to the taxpayer, some of it was “low value”, in the sense that it did not change tax outcomes. HMRC’s strategy is to reduce this type of 43 HC Committee of Public Accounts, HM Revenue & Customs: Handling telephone enquiries, Twenty-fourth Report of Session 2009–10, HC 389, March 2010, page 3 44 HC Committee of Public Accounts, Quality of service to personal taxpayers and replacing the Aspire contract, Thirteenth Report of Session 2016–17, HC 78, Incorporating HC 79, July 2016, pages 3 and 4 45 HC Committee of Public Accounts, HMRC’s performance in 2017–18, Sixty-Sixth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 1526, November 2018, para 20 46 C&AG’s Report, para 1.28–1.29, Figure 7, Figure 8 47 Q 117 48 Q 119 49 HMRC, HMRC quarterly performance report: July to September 2021, November 2021 HMRC Performance in 2020–21 17 contact or to get people to self-serve online if they can.50 HMRC believes that its spending review settlement for the next three years is sufficient to enable it to do a good job, but the settlement requires it to make efficiencies. If it does not achieve these efficiencies, customers were likely to experience a poorer service.51
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.