HMRC wait time goes up despite digital first
CUSTOMERS spent 798 years collectively waiting to speak with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2022-23 - more than double the time spent waiting in 2019-20, according to a watchdog.
The period of around seven million hours was spent by customers and their agents waiting to speak to an adviser in 2022-23, up from 365 years or around 3.2m hours in 2019-20.
HMRC’s strategy is to encourage customers to turn to its digital services first but it is not clear how far and fast digital services will reduce demand for telephone and correspondence services, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
The strategy is intended to cut costs servicing telephone calls and correspondence, as well as to free up staff to serve people who need extra support.
The NAO said that HMRC has not yet done enough to raise awareness of its digital services, increase customers’ confidence in using its online offering or understand how effectively these services meet customers’ needs.
It said the move to digital services has not eased pressure on traditional services as much as HMRC expected - and many avoidable customer calls are caused by the revenue itself, such as delays and customers chasing progress.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “HMRC’s telephone and correspondence services have been below its target service levels for too long. .”
An HMRC spokesperson said: “While customer service standards on our phone lines are still not where we want them to be, we’re making strong progress. Additional funding has been confirmed by the Government this week.”