The equivalent of 798 years or around seven million hours was spent by customers and their agents waiting to speak to an HMRC adviser in 2022-23.
The equivalent of 798 years or around seven million hours was spent by customers and their agents waiting to speak to an adviser in 2022-23, up from 365 years or around 3.2 million hours in 2019-20, the National Audit Office said
The strategy is intended to cut costs servicing telephone calls and correspondence, as well as to free up staff to serve people who need extra support. Advisers answered 22% fewer calls in 2022-23 than in 2019-20, but those that were answered took more time to handle on average. With HMRC’s call-handling workload falling less than expected, it has not been able to make all the staff reductions it planned, the NAO said.
The NAO report said: “HMRC’s telephone and correspondence services have been falling below the expected service levels for too long and HMRC has not achieved planned efficiencies.” Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “HMRC’s telephone and correspondence services have been below its target service levels for too long.
An HMRC spokesperson said: “While customer service standards on our phone lines are still not where we want them to be, we’re making strong progress in our efforts to improve our customer service and additional funding has been confirmed by the Government this week.
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