Tuesday 14 August 2012

NAO To Audit HMRC's "Customer" Service



As I noted exactly a week ago, the National Audit Office (NAO) qualified HMRC's accounts for the tenth year running.

In the meantime, HMRC have with great fanfare and naive approval of the ICAEW attempted some diversionary tactics by announcing a reallocation (HMRC calls it "investment") of "up to" £34M and a possible extra 1,000 personnel into their call centres.

Whilst the above may satisfy the ICAEW and some naive taxpayers, the NAO are not going to sit idly by. The NAO is looking at commitments made under the HMRC’s change programme and will report "in winter 2012" on the service that HMRC’s "customers" receive over the phone, online and in writing.

WARNING THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE CONTAINS MULTIPLE "C" WORDS!
 
As per the NAO:
"The NAO will examine the extent to which HMRC understands and meets customers’ needs and expectations; its customer service strategy; and how HMRC plans to change its business in order to ‘improve customer service with fewer staff’.
Whilst the ICAEW may be trumpeting the fact that the £34M "investment" is down to their efforts, the reality is clear; HMRC are trying to shift the deckchairs around before the auditors issue their report.

Tax does have to be taxing.



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1 comment:

  1. The NAO, wow, Homer must be laughing all the way to that damehood already.
    NAO = HMRC = NAO, not much more to worry abaht then is there?
    I can just imagine some of the content of the report...
    "and following the conviction of Jack, HMRC, in consultation with Excom and the ICAEW (official spokespeople for the majority of customers) having accepted the findings of the NAO before the review commenced (oops, freudian slip again) accepted the need to pay bigger bonuses all round whilst at the same time re-introducing that which was cut."
    They need the IPCC in there with Margaret Hodge and Co. get a real job done.

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