Let me tell you something about the British people: you can cut their local government services to the bone, send NHS waiting lists soaring, even let prisoners out early to ease overcrowding. But don't you dare close down HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) telephone helpline for parts of the year. This we will not stand for.
In one of the odder announcements (and faster U-turns) of the year, plans to reform HMRC services – which would have seen the self-assessment, VAT and PAYE helplines closed between April and September – with callers directed to use online services, have been put on hold. This followed pressure from the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, as well as criticism from the Chartered Institute of Taxation and Federation of Small Businesses.
This is not to suggest something of a love affair between UK taxpayers and their tax, payments and customs authority. In fact, overall levels of customer service provided by HMRC have hit an all-time low, according to a report last month by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. It found that nearly two-thirds of callers waited more than 10 minutes to speak to an advisor, continuing five years of decline, with the committee noting:
"As the taxpayer population increases, along with the complexity of their tax affairs, it looks like HMRC is struggling to cope. At £814.0 billion in 2022–23, tax revenues are at a record high, but HMRC still fell short of its compliance yield target."
The committee concluded: "HMRC is too keen to point to the long road to digitisation as an excuse for poor services to customers now.
Clearly, there is money to be saved and potential productivity to be gained by moving services online and introducing other forms of automation. But the problem is that while digitisation works for many people, it doesn't suit everyone.
And those in the latter group tend to make for sympathetic case studies (think: granny ensnared by HMRC for failing to pay tax on a charity teddy bear because the telephone helpline was shut for half the year.) Moreover, unlike certain public services on which only some people rely, everyone pays tax.
Like any efficiency saving, it might look sensible on paper, but taxpayers and politicians often take fright when it actually impacts them or their constituents. Another reason to be highly sceptical of both main party's implausibly tight post-election spending plans.
