HMRC fails to hit service targets for 2019/20
8 June: Call waiting times on HMRC support lines were up 25% in the first quarter of the year as data reveals that customer service performance had fallen before lockdown.
They also reveal that just 74% of post was handled within 15 working days, down from 83% in the previous quarter, and that 27% of callers waited more than 10 minutes for their call to be answered.
The performance for 2019/20 as a whole will be confirmed in HMRC’s annual report, but the provisional figures show that HMRC did not meet a number of its targets, including:
Average call waiting time was six minutes 39 seconds, against a target of five minutes and 2018/19 performance of five minutes 14 seconds.
- 30% of callers waited more than 10 minutes against a target of 15% and a 2018/19 performance of 20%.
- 70% of post was handled within 15 working days of receipt against a target of 80% and a 2018/19 performance of 77%.
The breakdown of individual helplines’ performance shows that personal tax PAYE and self-assessment helplines were hardest hit, but confirmed that all lines had been impacted, including the agent dedicated line which is usually answered promptly.
“HMRC is still operating reduced hours on its helplines and, based on reports from members, we expect that the performance in the current quarter will show a further decline over the last quarter of 2019/20. However, we appreciate that HMRC is in a difficult position given the need to focus on delivering the COVID-19 government support schemes and the fact that it was not initially possible for some of the helplines to be answered by staff working from home.”
On a more positive note the number of calls being made to HMRC continues to fall as it develops its digital services. The total number of call attempts over the year dropped by more than 1m to 41.6m in 2019/20 and the calls attempts in the quarter were 9.8m, down from 11m in the same quarter in 2018/19.