Reflecting the many specific and general concerns that have been raised by members, ICAEW has been actively engaging with HMRC on improving its service performance. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty has now joined with CIOT, ATT and ICAS to write to HMRC about these long-standing concerns.

HMRC had indicated that service performance would be restored to normal levels from April 2022. Feedback from ICAEW members does not bear this out.

To ensure that ICAEW members are fully informed about HMRC’s performance and plans for recovery, the letter asks when HMRC expects to be able to publish the following information.

Response to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommendations 6a to c

The government agreed with all three of the PAC’s recommendations regarding HMRC’s customer service and recovery plans. Recommendations a and c had a target implementation date of June 2022. The letter requests confirmation that implementation is still on target, and that the Treasury Minute will be published shortly.

HMRC performance dashboard

The dashboard remains in development and is only available via the online agent forum. There appears to be a delay to its progression and roll-out, including integrating it with the ‘Where’s My Reply’ service and making it widely available on gov.uk. The letter requests confirmation of expected timescales for the roll-out of the dashboard, and the plans for interaction with ‘Where’s My Reply’.

HMRC performance statistics

The latest information available is for the month of February 2022. The professional bodies have not seen information for March or April 2022 or for the January to March 2022 quarter. The letter asks when these will be published.