HMRC under fire for poor customer service

HMRC has been slammed for its poor customer service, as a new report shows the total time callers spent on hold to the helpline during 2022-23 added up to almost 800 years.

The findings by the National Audit Office (NAO) – the UK's independent public spending watchdog – come after the tax office was forced to U-turn on its decision to close the helpline for six months a year, following an outcry over the plans.  

Which? takes a closer look at what's gone wrong and provides advice on where to go if you need help with your taxes.

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What's gone wrong with tax office services?

The tax office's customer charter states that it commits to 'getting things right, making things easy, being responsive and treating customers fairly'. But the report by the NAO found HMRC was not always meeting those targets and was letting customers down across a range of services.

Taxpayers on hold for too long

Many tax issues aren't always straightforward and HMRC's helpline is a vital resource for customers with important questions - especially those who aren't as digitally savvy. For many taxpayers, however, getting through to anyone on the phone is a frustrating experience.

Callers to the helpline were left on hold for an average of nearly 23 minutes in the first 11 months of 2023-24, according to the NAO report. That's up from just five minutes in 2018-19. The time spent waiting to speak to an adviser in 2022-23 added up to 798 years – more than double the figure in 2019-20.

Advisers answered 22% fewer calls in 2022-23 compared with 2019-20, but these took 21% more time to handle on average, going from 11 minutes, 24 seconds to 13 minutes, 48 seconds. The NAO suggests this could be because more simple queries are being handled digitally, but many avoidable customer calls are caused by HMRC itself. For example, because of process failures and delays, and customers chasing progress. 

Gaps in HMRC's digital services

HMRC's has been directing people to its digital services in order to alleviate demand for the helpline and free up advisers to deal with more complex queries. The NAO, however, found several problems with this strategy.

In the first 11 months of 2023-24, nearly a third of callers were played a message directing them to the website instead, with some calls ending immediately after the message had finished. Customer satisfaction for those who were directed to HMRC's digital services has been low, and the tax office doesn't currently know how many of these people succeeded in resolving their queries online.

With many taxpayers now holding multiple jobs and 'fiscal drag' bringing more people into the tax system, customers' needs are less straightforward than before the pandemic. Using HMRC's digital services might, therefore, not be suitable for many people, but the report found that the tax office is not doing enough to make it clear who its online offering is for.

As such, the move to digital services hasn't eased pressure on traditional services as much as HMRC expected.

What can be done?

The NAO says if HMRC wants to ease pressure on its helpline by encouraging more people to use its other services for help with tax queries, it needs to adopt 'a more customer-focused approach'. It also needs to improve how customers can correspond and securely send documents online.

Sam Richardson, deputy editor of Which? Money, explained how pressing the issue is: 'Just as more people are getting pulled into paying tax and needing help with complex tax queries, HMRC has been shunting people online without establishing if these changes are really what taxpayers need.

'Not being able to get through to HMRC could have serious financial and mental-health-related consequences, so it's crucial that the service urgently makes improvements to the time it takes to get through and the quality of help offered.'

What HMRC says

In a comment responding to the report, the tax office says while it recognises there is still work to do, it is 'making strong progress' in its efforts to improve customer service. 

For example, HMRC says satisfaction with its digital services has consistently been above 80% in 2023-24, while three quarters of all customer correspondence was answered in 15 working days – up from a low of 45% in 2021-22. 

An HMRC spokesperson added that work is also being done to provide 'even better, easier and always-available online services'. Changes, however, will happen at a speed and in ways that 'customers are comfortable with.'

How to get tax help

You can call HMRC on 0300 200 3310 for assistance, but if your issue is straightforward, you might find answers on the tax office's website.

It has  video tutorials and pre-recorded webinars. You can also use its 'digital assistant' tool to ask for technical support with questions such as how to file your tax return.

Which? also has a range of guides on the different taxes you might need to pay and how to take the pain out of the process of filing a tax return.

Need help with your tax return?

Send your tax return to HMRC using the service provided by GoSimpleTax.

Calculate your tax bill

Which? launches campaign to tackle poor customer service

Customers across the board have seen a decline in customer service, with energy and broadband companies faring especially poorly in our surveys. 

So we've launched our Customer Service Counts campaign to ask companies to stop taking their customers for granted. 

You can share your experience of poor customer service with us.