Our "respected" members of Parliament (specifically PAC) have warned that cuts to HMRC helplines have cost taxpayers £4 for every £1 saved and left taxpayers waiting for an average of 47 minutes for their calls to be answered.
No surprises there then!
The Public Accounts Committee goes on to warn that plans to cut the number of staff at HMRC by a third by 2021 could lead to another “collapse” in customer service and will “chill the blood of many taxpayers”.
Meg Hillier, the chairman of the
committee, is quoted by the Telegraph:
"The prospect of HMRC making further cuts to spending on customer service will chill the blood of many taxpayers.
HMRC's recent performance in this area has been appalling for long periods and left members of the public counting the cost in time and money.
It is bad enough that people trying to pay their fair share of tax should have been kept waiting for so long.
But holding for HMRC's helpline has hit them in the pocket too - a serious concern for those on low incomes and a dismal message to send to small businesses, the self-employed and anyone else simply seeking advice.”
Mrs Hillier also said:
I would care to make an observation, it's all very well MPs moaning about HMRC and its service levels (or lack of service levels). However, HMRC's budget is set by the government, tax policy is set by the Chancellor and voted on by Parliament and those who run HMRC are selected/approved of by the Treasury.
Therefore MPs only have themselves to blame for HMRC being shite!
"HMRC has serious work to do before this committee is confident it can provide a consistent, efficient service that properly meets the needs of taxpayers and optimises tax revenue.An HMRC spokesman said:
Efforts to meet government spending targets must not come through ill-conceived measures that effectively penalise the people departments are intended to serve."
"This is an inaccurate, out of date reflection of our phone performance. We acknowledge that service levels in the early part of last year were not acceptable and we apologised at the time.Well then, nothing to worry about at all it's all lies then!
But the PAC is well aware our phone lines have since fully recovered and we are now offering our best service levels in years. Wait times are now below five minutes and customers consistently rate the support they receive on the phones as excellent.”
I would care to make an observation, it's all very well MPs moaning about HMRC and its service levels (or lack of service levels). However, HMRC's budget is set by the government, tax policy is set by the Chancellor and voted on by Parliament and those who run HMRC are selected/approved of by the Treasury.
Therefore MPs only have themselves to blame for HMRC being shite!
Tax does have to be taxing.
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No surprises to any of this. The customer non-service from HMRC is still appalling, and does directly impact on compliance at the end of the day. Interesting that the PAC report & HMRC comments directly contradict. It comes down to trust; who is telling the lies? Based on experience one would observe that HMRC senior management are not afraid to lie or deploy the 'art' of spin. However, it is right to say that the Government employ the officers of HMRC and are in a position to make changes if Senior Management's performance needs improvement; but history would suggest nothing will change. The governance structure, a structure which has turned a blind eye to the HMRC bullying culture, is weak and ineffective. Time for the new Chancellor to make some serious changes?
ReplyDeleteHMRC managers just kick downwards. Nobody speaks the truth because they would then be reported on for negative behaviour.HMRC now has an enormous publicity machine churning out propaganda. Adverse NAO reports are dismissed as being out of date and everything is now peachy. Well it ain't.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who dares to speak the truth in any public service should be treated as a public hero; the cowards are those who turn a blind eye. Sadly however there is no protection for the brave, and they are likely to then be bullied by the HMRC management. While they waste our cash paying the wages for those in HMRC's propaganda department to distort the truth, they are getting rid of frontline staff and failing to answer taxpayers phone calls in a timely manner. Disgraceful.
DeleteI have heard that many hours are spent by Senior management seeing staff that have left comments on the internal news items that those that write the articles do not like. I wonder if this time is accounted for anywhere?
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