While the news that HMRC has been given extra funding to improve customer service levels has been welcomed, experts are warning that this money must be spent wisely.
The Treasury announced that the £51m funding is to be put toward helping phone lines to meet service standard targets.
After previously sharing concerns about HMRC service levels and the plans to close helplines, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has responded to this news and warned that this additional money needs to be ‘spent wisely and investment sustained’ to address problems with the department’s helplines and digital services and meet ever increasing demand.
CIOT Head of Tax Technical, Richard Wild, commented, “We are pleased the government has recognised that HMRC needs additional resources to improve its customer service, particularly its phone lines which have been underperforming for many years.
“HMRC’s service levels continue to be the single greatest concern expressed by our members, and our surveys tell us that this is making it harder and more expensive to do business, and damaging trust in the tax system.”
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Richard added, “We welcome the minister’s statement that the government are committed to providing HMRC with the necessary resources to meet the continued needs of all its customers.
“While £51 million sounds like a lot of money, it’s just a small fraction of HMRC’s customer service budget and needs to be spent wisely. It also needs to be sustained rather than a one off. We hope that this additional funding can help bridge the gap that exists between the desire to do more digitally, and the availability and reliability of systems which would make that possible.
“However, we should not expect overnight improvements. It will take time to recruit and train staff to the necessary standards, so it could be several months before call waiting times reduce significantly.”
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