Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 9 July (HL896, HL897) and 30 July (HL1654), why according to recent press reports HMRC are still failing to answer telephoned inquiries and complaints from the public within an acceptable time frame.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recognise that their customer service has not been good enough, and have taken major steps to improve, including recruiting 3,000 new staff into customer service roles, available outside normal office hours when many of their customers choose to call them. The process of recruiting and training the new staff is now complete. These improvements have started to make a difference. This month, HMRC have answered more than 80 per cent of calls, and average queue times are now around 10 minutes.
HMRC also recognise that some customers have been waiting too long for a response to their complaint. HMRC have recovery plans in place and their performance is improving week on week.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the press release by HMRC on 25 June, what initiatives HMRC have put in place to improve performance in respect of relieving public frustration at being able to make contact by telephone.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recognise that their customer service has not been good enough, and have taken major steps to improve, including recruiting 3,000 new staff into customer service roles, available outside normal office hours when many of their customers choose to call them. The process of recruiting and training the new staff is now complete. These improvements have started to make a difference. This month, HMRC have answered more than 80 per cent of calls, and average queue times are now around 10 minutes.
HMRC also recognise that some customers have been waiting too long for a response to their complaint. HMRC have recovery plans in place and their performance is improving week on week.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 30 July (HL1654), whether HM Revenue and Customs has target times by which members of the public can reasonably expect to get through on the telephone and speak to an official; and by what percentage extent there has been a change over the past three years in the number of telephone calls from the public seeking information or assistance from that Department.
Answered by Lord Bridges
As stated in an earlier response (HL897), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes its performance data quarterly on the gov.uk website.
HMRC handles 50 million calls a year from customers. It aims to answer 80 per cent of all calls and accepts that it is not currently delivering on that aspiration. HMRC published a press release on 25 June in which it apologised for the poor service, acknowledged that some customers were struggling to get through on the telephone and outlined a number of initiatives it is putting in place to improve performance.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 9 July (HL898), whether there are target times by which calls from members of the public are expected to receive attention when telephoning (1) HM Revenue and Customs, (2) the Home Office, (3) the Ministry of Justice, (4) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (5) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
All new HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) telephony advisers receive two days of call handling soft skills training, prior to handling customer calls. Further call handling training is provided depending on the needs of the advisor.
The first escalation for complaints from an adviser is to a Team Leader. 80 per cent of complaints are successfully handled at this point.
HMRC’s Personal Tax Operations has a specific team who deal with customer complaints received via telephone.
HMRC has a target of answering 80 per cent of all calls received.
Information regarding the training and performance on telephony issues for other Government Departments is not held centrally and should be obtained from the Departments concerned.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 9 July (HL898), what training in communication skills is provided for the officials in (1) HM Revenue and Customs, (2) the Home Office, (3) the Ministry of Justice, (4) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (5) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, who are responsible for helping members of the public who telephone with complaints or requests for information.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
All new HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) telephony advisers receive two days of call handling soft skills training, prior to handling customer calls. Further call handling training is provided depending on the needs of the advisor.
The first escalation for complaints from an adviser is to a Team Leader. 80 per cent of complaints are successfully handled at this point.
HMRC’s Personal Tax Operations has a specific team who deal with customer complaints received via telephone.
HMRC has a target of answering 80 per cent of all calls received.
Information regarding the training and performance on telephony issues for other Government Departments is not held centrally and should be obtained from the Departments concerned.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the recent closure of the Euston and Lambeth office of HM Revenue and Customs, how many centres remain in (1) London, and (2) the United Kingdom as a whole, where a member of the public can obtain a face-to-face meeting with a revenue official.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HMRC currently have no walk in centres in any part of the United Kingdom.
Following public consultation, from June 2014, HMRC introduced a new service for customers who need extra help to get their taxes and entitlements right. This replaced the network of walk-in Enquiry Centres. The service can be accessed in a number of different ways and detailed information can be found on Gov.UK.
Where a face-to-face meeting is most appropriate, a new team of mobile advisers will arrange to meet our customers at one of the 336 convenient locations in the community throughout the country, or at their home if a mobility difficulty exists.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether large numbers of the public are unable to get through to HM Revenue and Customs by telephone to obtain help with their tax inquiries; and, if so, what steps they are taking to address this.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) accepts that its performance was inconsistent during 2014-15 and it has recently outlined actions taken to improve customer service. These include recruitment of additional staff and investment in new technology.
HMRC has allocated £45 million, supporting the recruitment of an additional 3,000 customer service staff to answer calls and deal with customer correspondence. The department is also moving around 2,000 additional people from other parts of HMRC temporarily into customer service roles to support the tax credits peak.
Details of HMRC telephony performance, including average waiting time, is published quarterly on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, given the importance they place on the public's access to information, what formula they use to gauge the number of officials they need to have on duty at the main inquiry points of (1) HM Revenue and Customs, (2) the Home Office, (3) the Ministry of Justice, (4) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (5) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to ensure that a call gets individual attention within (a) five, (b) 10 , and (c) 20 minutes.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The information requested is not held centrally.
Detailed information on the staffing and performance of individual Government Departments is contained in their Annual Report and Accounts, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the number of inquiries from the public being addressed to (1) HM Revenue and Customs, (2) the Home Office, (3) the Ministry of Justice, (4) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (5) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has changed over the last decade, and whether the provision of staff to attend to them has changed proportionately.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The information requested is not held centrally.
Detailed information on the staffing and performance of individual Government Departments is contained in their Annual Report and Accounts, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.