The National Audit Office (NAO) report that up to 44 million calls to HMRC went unanswered in the year 2008-09.Out of the 103M calls made to HMRC's directorate handling telephone enquiries (an increase of 22% compared to the previous year), 57% (58M) were answered (down from 71% in the previous year).
The National Audit Office stated:
"In terms of handling telephone enquiries, the Department is not currently achieving value for money, as it recognises.".
Tax does have to be taxing.
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And it is only going to get worse!!!!!!
ReplyDeletemaximum five staff in each enquiry centre lots of enquiry centres going two or three days. Budget being cut in contact centres each year.... The future is very bleak
ReplyDeleteSmall datailski...by my reckoning, that data indicates the number of calls actually answered fell, from 59.9m to 58.7m, despite the massive increase in underlying volume...numpties
ReplyDeleteNAO please note that it's not answering correspondance either!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shambles!
"NAO please note that it's not answering correspondance either!"
ReplyDeleteCabinet office seems to be the same!!!!
In the VAT office I was in (after the merger) it was a laugh when a phone started ringing. That much bullshit was involved when answering a call like having to inform a manger or having to fill in a form when the call ended that people started to ignore the phone. I don't know where all this extra bullshit came from, but the attitude was, look I have enough on my plate, fuck the call.
ReplyDeleteWhere I work staff that leave arent being replaced but the volume of calls is increasing.
ReplyDeleteSo to hear this doesnt surprise me and things will only get worse !.
When I went into work in the CC this morn at 8am, there was more than 100 calls in the queue, when I left at 5pm there was 330 in the queue. Its non stop all day, every day. As the prev poster says nobodys getting replaced. ITS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE.
ReplyDeleteThat business of people leaving and then not being replaced.
ReplyDeleteSomeone in hmrc, possibly the team manager, need a swift kick up the arse for that.
The stress and arguing that alone caused in my team was fucking unreal.
You had your own workload and then you got the person who left, theirs too, just because these fuckers have decided to reduce the workforce.
At the end of it all, a service to the tax payer is simply reduced, but trying to explain to these people is like talking to concrete.
In our EC we have had people kicking off because they cant get through to contact centre and so they ask for an appointment and we are so near to the three day target we cant offer an appointment until three + days as a result customers are getting pissed off plus we are done to 5 advisers permanently in a large ec one of which has to do internet sa filing with customer, 1 floor walking that leave three advisers so if anyone is on leave or sick we are stuck its a joke.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your blog post about R&G Brenner. If the taxpayer is using a professional tax preparation service, the service should be aware of all of the new changes, but otherwise it is up to the taxpayer to find out about them. Though some of the new measures are relatively minor and not worth the trouble for many taxpayers, other measures can result in real savings for many average people and should be used.
ReplyDelete