Press Release
- HM Revenue and
Customs: handling telephone
enquiries
15 January 2010
HM Revenue and Customs' performance in
answering telephone calls in 2008-09 was well below its own targets
and industry standards, the National Audit Office has reported
today. In its Customer Contact Directorate, which answers 95
per cent of calls to the Department's contact centres, only 57 per
cent of 103 million call attempts were answered, compared with 71
per cent in the year before and an industry benchmark of over 90
per cent.
Recognising that this level of performance was
unacceptable, the Department launched initiatives to improve its
management of caller demand. There have been signs of significant
improvement in 2009-2010, with the percentage of calls answered
rising to 73 per cent in the first half of the year. The
Directorate has introduced a change programme with the aim of
answering 90 per cent of calls at around 30 per cent less cost by
March 2012.
Call volumes vary greatly throughout the year
reflecting the flow of work on individual taxes and benefits and
associated statutory deadlines. The number of calls per month
in 2008-09 ranged from four million to 17
million. Consequently performance in answering calls also
varied throughout the year, with 33 per cent of calls answered
during the tax credit renewals peak (July) and 85 per cent of calls
answered in December.
Overall staffing levels do not fluctuate in
line with call volumes and consequently, in 2008-09, the monthly
average cost per call answered ranged from around £2.50 to over £5.
The percentage of contact centre staff time actually spent on
customer contact or follow-up work was 38 per cent. This does
not appear out of line with other central government agencies but
is well below a best practice industry benchmark of 60 per
cent.
The NAO estimates that, by halving the 35 per
cent of contact with customers that the Department considers to be
avoidable and better use of its resources, the Department could
answer 90 per cent of calls and achieve a substantial reduction in
its costs.
The Directorate measures the quality of its
work against three standards. Eighty-nine per cent of calls met its
standard on accuracy of advice and 94 per cent met standards on
both appropriate security checks and correctness of follow-up
action. The Directorate has introduced measures to improve
these scores, particularly on accuracy. Improving quality is
likely to bring benefits in people getting their tax and benefit
affairs right and reducing repeat enquiries.
Mr Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
"HMRC seems to be going in the right direction seeking
strategic savings by reducing face to face interaction where the
job can be done by telephone or online. However, this may not
be much comfort if yours was one of the 43 per cent of calls which
did not get an answer in 2008-09. HMRC needs to get telephone
service standards up significantly if the transition to
technology-enabled working is to have taxpayer support and deliver
value for money."
Notes for Editors
- HMRC spent £233 million in 2008-09 on around 10,500 full time
equivalent staff in its 31 contact centres throughout the
UK. Ninety-five per cent of call attempts to its contact
centres were handled within the Customer Contact
Directorate. In 2008-09 the Directorate received 103 million
call attempts - an increase of 22 per cent on 2007-08.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at http://www.nao.org.uk/hmrcenquiries2010.
Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, is the head
of the National Audit Office which employs some 900 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He
certifies the accounts of all Government departments and a wide
range of other public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority
to report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and
effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used
their resources.
Press Notice 03/10
All enquiries to Phil Groves, NAO Press Office
Tel: 020 7798 5339
Mobile: 07770 678477