Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to review his Department's use of debt collection agencies to send final opportunity letters.
As part of their overall collections strategy, debt collection agencies (DCAs) provide HMRC with additional capacity. The department keeps under review the cost effectiveness and value for money that using DCAs provides to the Exchequer and UK citizens. There are no current plans to move away from using agencies to send final opportunity letters.
The table below sets out the total expenditure on DCAs by HMRC and the amount spent instructing them to issue final opportunity letters.
| Total spend | Final opportunity letter spend |
2017/18 | £ 32,099,756.77 | £1,714,901.62 |
2018/19 | £ 26,021,351.78 | £1,302,490.63 |
2019/20 | £ 26,163,245.08 | £1,242,984.66 |
Final opportunity letters are sent on HMRC’s behalf by some of the debt collection agencies that the department works with. These are:
The full list of debt collection agencies that HMRC work with can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/if-you-dont-pay-your-tax-bill/debt-collection-agencies.