HMRC call centre wait times unacceptable 6,431 Filed under - Archived Content Recent figures released by HMRC have shown that average call-waiting times have tripled in the last two years, leading one in four callers to hang up in frustration. These delays are plainly unacceptable, and, given the technology that exists, unnecessary, says Datapoint. Gordon Young, general manager of Katalyst at Datapoint, comments: “What’s worrying here is that in the face of call-waiting times of up to four minutes, many callers have simply given up. If anything, through the mismanagement of its call centres, HMRC is actually demotivating people from paying their taxes properly. By any standards, these waiting times are unacceptable. A concerted effort will be needed to improve its call centres to ensure that information is as accessible as possible.” Authorities have blamed staffing and budget cuts in recent years, suggesting that an additional 10,000 HMRC staff will be cut by 2015. Gordon Young “Continually striving to do more with less – creating greater efficiency – is a basic practice in the private sector and one that public bodies are now having to learn during these more austere times,” Young continues. “It’s important that resources and staff are deployed efficiently and intelligently. Contact centres, which are often a customer’s first point of contact, play an integral role in this, but the fact is that most contact centres, and the staff that operate them, aren’t being managed as well as they should be. By deploying contact centre optimisation tools, managers are better able to control call and team distribution, monitor call traffic and ensure that operators are where they are most needed. “The tax cycle inevitably leads to peaks and troughs in call centre traffic. With the right monitoring tools in place, the HMRC would be able to plan for these better. There is technology out there that can help identify process inefficiencies and plan appropriately for fluctuating contact volumes, thus reducing the amount of time callers spend on hold,” Young concludes. Author: Jo Robinson Published On: 9th May 2012 - Last modified: 12th Dec 2018 Read more about - Archived Content 18 Comments I’ve just waited for 1 hour 20 minutes! I hung up after that. There is something SERIOUSLY wrong to have to wait that long Tom 9 May at 14:39 Good points Gordon and the wait times are indefensible. What’s interesting is that HMRC has won several awards for what its done to try to cope in the past few years. So is it the way contact centres are managed or the way the business is managed, or the way its stakeholders use and abuse the business? It has won awards for handling peaks, use of IVR, for removal of unnecessary contact. We presented HMRC one of our global “Best Service Is No (unnecessary) Service” awards in 2011 for its very strong work in removing 18m unnecessary contacts at source. The people there are intelligent, diligent, patient and caring. They have some of the best practices in doing more with less. But there surely is a problem. The business sends out dumb letters and the forms used are incomprehensible. Accountabilities in the business for these things have moved forward leaps and bounds but clearly not far enough The Cabinet Office won’t let them spend a magic bean on advice and they’re locked into horrendous single source IT contracts. Resources were cut regardless of consequences. The tax system gets ever more complex. And more pressure to get money in creates anomalies and dumb letters. So let’s not throw bricks at some really hard working folk. Let’s ask the questions of our politicians as to why the demand is so high, why the resources aren’t adequate for today’s needs despite the best efforts of planners and ops managers. Don’t lets blame the fireman that the fire started, or the fact he cant put the fire out once its taken hold. Peter Massey 10 May at 12:56 spent over an hour on hold today before giving up… one of many young people with only a mobile that time on hold just cost me over £7… appreciate there is industrial action today… but over an hour on a premium rate no. to try and sort your tax and NI out is actually just disgusting!! anom 10 May at 16:08 spent over an hour on hold today before giving up… one of many young people with only a mobile- that time on hold just cost me over £7… appreciate there is industrial action today… but over an hour on a premium rate no. to try and sort your tax and NI out is actually just disgusting!! anom 10 May at 16:10 I used to work for this shambles, I left a few years ago and things were getting bad then. I find myself on the other side of the fence this year, trying to claim a refund that ‘Should have happened automatically by now’. Rubbish The new system that HMRC contact centre staff are working on to change tax codes ETC is still archaic, despite the recent Son of Cop (COP was a doss system, more in place in the 1980s) update. The staff cuts are unacceptable, As I am writing this, I have been on the phone for almost 45 mins which is a total joke, the phone call I estimate will cut my refund by almost 14 pounds for the amount of times I have been on hold, money that I will never get back. I am not blaming the people on the other end of the phone, these people do a good job despite the limitations set upon them. Poor management and money grabbing directors are causing this. This has to stop. Anonymous 18 May at 12:22 Had to hang up last time after 10 minutes. This time I’ve been waiting 25 minutes already, with no information on how many are ahead in queue. For all people could know there is nobody there to answer. Jeremy Rickard 12 Jun at 17:00 currently waiting to be spoken too. 21 mins and counting :/ jodie 2 Jul at 16:09 I’ve waited over half an hour before.. 7 mins so far…. anne 6 Jul at 13:11 I am an accountant in practice and I have wasted at least 20 minutes today alone waiting to have an intelligent conversation with the author of a letter issued by HMRC Longbenton about one of my clients. One of the most annoying aspects to their call centre system is that so much time is spent having you listen to menus and pressing buttons, interspersed with suggestions that you should check on their website for the answer to your questions – if I were cynical I would think that they were trying to get me to go away and leave them alone! The firt time I called I was cut off after going through the button-pressing dance and the ‘look at our website’ exhortations; they cut me off because all of their operatives ‘were busy’, so please call again. That’s five minutes of my life I won’t get back! The second time it took just under 15 minutes to speak to a human being. The call centre lady was as helpful and sympathetic as she could be but, regrettably, was not able to put me through to the Longbenton office because they did not take incoming calls there! Nor could she assist me with my queries. What about getting them to ring me back? I asked; yes, sir, that MAY be possible but it could take up to 10 days (!!)for them to call. Normally I am very placid and patient but I am a little ashamed to say that I rather lost my temper today; I did apologise profusely to her at the end of our ‘chat’ and assured her that my venom was not directed at her personally. One has to feel some sympathy for the call centre staff because almost every caller must be at the end of their tether by the time they get through. If you will forgive me, the rest of this post is a little off topic but it still demonstrates the public’s frustrations in dealing with HMRC and I do feel a lot better for having a rant about it. I think the adjective is ‘cathartic’. The reason for my call? My (small)client is owed over £12500 by HMRC; this came about from a return lodged with them (on time)in May. It had taken HMRC over 2 months to ask detailed questions about the form; rather than enter into detailed correspondence and carry out a few hours unnecessary work I thought the most sensible way forward was to speak to Longbenton direct and largely iron out the problems over the phone. However, common sense seems to be a rare commodity in most HMRC departments and I was not able to do that. So they can, with impunity, delay the repayment of a significant amount of money to my client whilst their bureautic cogs slowly grind; if the boot were on the other foot… Well, it was recently, in the case of another client who owed HMRC about £6000; they (HMRC) turned up(unannounced)at my client’s premises with bailiffs to levy distraint on the company’s plant and machinery with the promise that they would come back and remove it in 7 days time, if the debt was not paid. That would, of course, have put my client out of business at a stroke. Can anyone spot the subtle difference in these two scenarios? No prizes, by the way! Stuart Broadbent 2 Aug at 16:48 47mins job center+ ridiculous roger 28 Aug at 17:55 I am fuming with HMRC! I’ve never known a so-called ‘helpline’ be so awful to get through to. I’ve been ringing since the beginning of May, to tell them that I am now self-employed. IN the meantime my renewal has come through and I would obviously like to get both issues sorted during my call. I have called them over 15 times and each time I have had to hang up after holding on for 10 minutes. I’ve called different days, different times. The main issue is not just how long you have to wait – you get told useless information by automated message, which you can’t bypass and have to pay for – this lasts about 4 minutes before you’re told you’ll be put through to someone – then you have to wait again. I called one evening at 6.45pm, waited to be told all the same useless info and was going to be put through. THEN a message said they couldn’t take my call and I would have to call back. Why don’t they play this message initially instead of wasting peoples’ money?? Tiffany 20 Jun at 11:10 As a government service, these figures are indeed unacceptable. Reading some of the earlier comments that a typical call is costing £7 because of how long people are having to hold is ridiculous. The abandonment rates would be interesting to see. Gary Wyatt 21 Jun at 14:46 What a joke 1.16mins still waiting…… will ellis 18 Aug at 17:49 I have been waiting too long about 55mint Oh my god Why they put too long waiting Mrs khan 19 Jan at 19:12 Been waiting for over 35 minutes without any indication of where I am in the queue. HMRC must make a fortune out of no t providing a service. Something needs to be done. Mr campbell 23 Jan at 19:44 Still waiting after 40 minutes to deal with a mistake on their side and posting a snotty letter.. zara 26 Jan at 17:48 I am still waiting to talk to someone 37 minutes of waiting and 26 …sorry to keep you waiting. One of our advisers will be with you asap….29 now!How can I claim back the cost of this call? Anonymous 19 Feb at 20:10 3rd time ive rung on my dinner break now, each call lasting the full 30 mins and yet still havent spoke to anybody. disgusting. Anonymous 3 Mar at 13:36 Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Get the latest exciting call centre reports, specialist whitepapers and interesting case-studies. Choose the content that you want to receive. Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Invites to exclusive Webinars & Events Weekly Newsletter