HM Revenue and Customs under fire for plan to close tax centres

Published on 18/03/2013 00:31

Plans to close 281 tax inquiry centres risk worsening an already “disgraceful” phone help service, a spending watchdog warned.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been condemned for costing callers £136 million a year through delays in answering calls, with a quarter of 79 million calls unanswered.

That was despite spending £900m on customer service. The Commons public accounts committee welcomed planned improvements, including a call-back system and a move away from 0845 numbers.

But it condemned a “woefully inadequate and unambitious” new target to answer 80 per cent of calls within five minutes, which it said was way below industry standards.