HMRC closes face-to-face help centres to save money

The taxman is replacing face-to-face branches with call centres but can they do the job?

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to close 281 Enquiry Centres across the country which at the moment help 2.5 million people every year.

To replace the centres, a helpline and home visits will be set up, with the aim of saving £13 million every year.

But the news has sparked fears that elderly and vulnerable people may be left without help and 1,300 people will lose their jobs.

Tax centres closures

HMRC is closing the centres because it says the number of people using them has dropped significantly, from five million in 2005/6 to 2.5 million in 2011/12.

It says each visit costs around £152 and many of these visits could be solved over the phone.

Before the new service is rolled out there will be a five-month trial period in the north-east of England which will start in June.

During this time people living in the area won’t have access to the local centres in; Alnwick, Bishop Auckland, Bridlington, Hexham, Darlington, Durham, Middlesbrough, Morpeth, Newcastle, Scarborough, Stockton, Sunderland and York.

Instead, they will have the option of calling HMRC and speaking to an advisor who will then judge if the issue needs to be followed up with a home visit or if it can be sorted out over the phone.

The plans are now in a consultation stage and will be decided upon on 24 May 2013 – with the final results published in July.

Poor calling history

Worryingly, HMRC does not have a particularly good track record when it comes to its phone services.

Back in December we reported that calls to HMRC cost the taxpayer £136million in 2011/12 and the average waiting time was 262 seconds with the average caller on hold for more than 10 minutes.

This is hardly the kind of service people need, and it seems unlikely the new scheme will be as effective as face-to-face centres.

There’s also a worry about moving to call centres. Peter Chadborn, director of Plan Money, explains that tax is one of the areas to cause concern, primarily due to the layers of complexity and worry about making mistakes.

“It is therefore a great shame to hear of many face-to-face centres closing because the alternative of dealing with call centres does not fill people with confidence,” he adds.

Job cuts

The taxman has also been criticised over the job losses which will result in closing these centres.

Around 1,300 people could be made redundant and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents HMRC staff, says the plans would cut off vital personal support for pensioners and other vulnerable taxpayers.

It also suggests biased research is being used to justify HMRC’s plans. This is because it claims market researchers calling on behalf of HMRC have asked whether taxpayers would prefer to deal with the department "by phone, post or online".

When told they would like to speak to somebody in person the researchers said this was not a valid option.

What do you think about HMRC’s plans? Can it justify closing face-to-face centres and replacing them with call centres?

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