“HMRC has been allocated money to hire nearly 8,000 more staff, an increase of a further 600 people since the Spring Statement. However, they will focus on compliance and debt management rather than front-line services, which is a missed opportunity to improve services for all taxpayers.

“We need to understand exactly how HMRC will reach its target that a minimum of 90% of taxpayer interactions by 2029-2030 will be by way of digital self-service. It remains unclear what further measures will be introduced to achieve this target, other than the proposed use of AI to help taxpayers with their enquiries and raise productivity, and allowing taxpayers to easily get the information they need without having to call or write to HMRC.

“In addition, HMRC says it will eliminate most outbound post, with limited exceptions such as letters which generate revenue for the Exchequer, thereby reducing the number of letters HMRC sends out by 75% and making savings of £50 million a year by 2028-29. To meet this objective, a robust and user-friendly alternative system will need to be put in place and cater for agents, otherwise HMRC will merely have reduced its own costs at the expense of a poorer service to taxpayers. As yet, the details of how this will be achieved remains to be seen.

“Finally, the question of what will happen to inbound post remains, and the need to provide taxpayers and agents with the confidence that their information has been received and logged promptly by HMRC and that it is being acted upon. We should have a better idea of the proposed developments when HMRC publishes its digital transformation roadmap.”

ENDS

Notes to editors: