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HMRC advice line costs revealed

18.12.12

HMRC are today being criticised for their customer service, after a report from The National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that delays in answering customer calls has cost taxpayers millions of pounds in 2011-12.

HMRC answered 74% of all phone calls, surpassing their interim target of 58% - a markedly low figure. Around 20 million calls were not picked up at all last year.

It is estimated that delays in answering calls equated to a £136m bill for callers, with many being put on hold. The average time a caller had to wait to speak to an advisor was 282 seconds, despite that figure being only 107 seconds in 2009-10. Between April and September 2011, 6.5 million customers waited over 10 minutes to speak to an advisor.

In recent years, HMRC has employed 2,500 temporary staff to help answer a high demand on calls due to changes in legislation and long-term backlogs.

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