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?
More on tax:
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Ten ways to avoid Capital Gains Tax
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Six easy ways to pay less tax
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Comments
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Nothing HMRC might do would surprise me. They have far and away the worst public service ethos in the UK and even more arrogance than the BBC. And they can get very nasty. They bankrupt people every week and pretend it is the last resort. Not true. Have you ever had experience of the Capital Taxes Office - the arm that deals with deceased Estates? Not good for blood pressure, believe me. I have had to deal with HMRC for years through self-assessment and have always found it stressful.
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The tax system is broken but too many people will not admit it. The bulk of public revenue should be raised from a national property tax - simple, inexpensive, certain and cheap to collect, with minimal compliance costs. Preferably it should be based on site values only. Once the tax is paid and the standing order set up, we can all forget about the matter, and everyone knows how much they need to pay is it is given in the valuation.
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Local tax enquiry centres were the mainstay of HMRC's customer service. The staff were fully trained and only those who had achieved the grade of Revenue Officer or higher were put on duty to help taxpayers with their problems. And it worked fine. Then HMRC decided to go all political, forgetting that it's main raison de etre was to ensure that people and corporations got their tax right!! Today it is an inefficient monster, and does not give a damn. They have lost my 2010 tax return 3 times, and then lost my 2011 tax return also! When I phoned to ask for another form, I was promised one sent immediately, but three months on it hasn't come. And when I called again, there was NO note of my previous call!!! Convenient, isn't it? BUT, I have a land line number and not an expensive 0845 one. Go to www.saynoto0870.com and check it out there. Use one of the alternative regular phone numbers and you not only get through immediately, you usually can actually get something sorted. Even if it is only a promise to send you another form, again..3 months down the line I'll let you know if they did send me a duplicate tax return!
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22 March 2013