Thousands on hold to HMRC 'cut off after 70 minutes'

The UK's HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has denied that it is deliberately providing a "poor" telephone service to force taxpayers to seek online help instead. A parliamentary committee report noted that nearly 44,000 customers were cut off without warning after waiting for more than an hour last year.

The report warned that HMRC's service has worsened since then and urged the tax authority to take responsibility for failing to serve its customers well. The report by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that in the first 11 months of 2023-24, HMRC's phone lines abruptly disconnected 43,690 customers after they had waited 70 minutes, because HMRC's system could not cope with the large volume of calls, and customers were not informed they were about to be cut off nor offered a call back.

HMRC Chief Executive Jim Harra stated that the committee's claims about its customer service were "completely unfounded," adding that "our service standards have improved dramatically since last April, with call waiting times reduced by 17 minutes." The report was released ahead of the January 31st self-assessment tax return deadline, which is likely to cause an increase in demand for help. Public Accounts Committee Chair, MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said that HMRC's customer service was "plumbing new depths every year" and, worse, "appears to be deliberately downgrading its service."

The committee called for "bold and ambitious leadership" to improve its customer service and to better address tax system abuse and outstanding debt. In 2023-24, HMRC wrote off £5 billion of unrecoverable debt, up from £3.2 billion in 2022-23. The report also called for the tax authority to better understand the offshore tax gap, the difference between tax owed and tax actually paid, and expressed concern over a decline in investigations and prosecutions for tax-related crimes.

Mr. Harra said: "We will always answer the phone for those who need extra help. At the same time, over 80% of customers are satisfied with our digital services, and more and more are using them to manage their tax affairs quickly and conveniently." These recommendations come after a series of criticisms of HMRC. Last March, HMRC announced that its phone lines would be closed between April and September, but was forced to reverse the decision within 24 hours. A report in May found that customers were waiting an average of nearly 23 minutes to get through to an advisor on the phone.