Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason his Department does not hold complaints in respect of the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme centrally.

HM Treasury operates a complaints procedure to review and respond to expressions of dissatisfaction with the services provided by the department. The complaints procedure is available on GOV.UK.

Separate procedures exist for questions or complaints about Government policy. If someone submitted an issue under the Treasury’s complaints procedure that concerned Government policy, the complaints team would pass this issue on to the relevant policy team.

While the Treasury records a total figure for the amount of correspondence received regarding the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), this represents a wide range of suggestions, thoughts and concerns. It would not be reasonable for the Treasury to determine whether each individual piece of correspondence could informally constitute a “complaint” about the SEISS. Given this, this information is not recorded centrally.