The National Audit Office has called the HM Revenues’ and Customs performance in answering customers’ calls “unacceptable” in a report released today.
Only 57% of calls were answered across the department’s call centres in 2008/09 compared to 71% in the year before. The report also reveals that the number of complaints from people unable to get through more than tripled during the same time period.
HMRC have made hundreds of staff redundant in Wales in recent years and closed down centres in Llanelli, Cardiff, Swansea and Carmarthen.
Ten other HMRC centres in Wales are threatened with closure including Aberystwyth, Pontypridd and Newport in a move that would see 325 workers face redundancy.
The cuts are set against a background of the department struggling to claw back money owed to them. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s Standard Report for 2008/09 disclosed debt owed to HMRC rose by £2.7 billion to £27.7 billion. Doubtful debt, meaning monies unlikely to be received, also rose to £11.2 billion, from £7.9 billion the previous year.
Plaid Cymru’s South Wales Central AM, Leanne Wood, said: “The picture painted by the National Audit Office report is a damning indictment on the huge cuts and closures imposed by the department recently.
“Not only have hundreds of people been left on the scrap heap by their so-called efficiency savings but the customers have been given a raw deal as well.
“At a time when the UK Labour Government is struggling to collect all of its revenues, cutting staff that are directly involved in this process is short-sighted and counter productive.
“I was particularly worried about the section of the report which states the department aims to ‘eventually to have the majority of customers using self-service telephone and on-line communication channels.’ If they cannot answer basic calls, what chance do they have of operating more complex systems with fewer staff members?”
Peter Harris, the Welsh Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: “HMRC are not sufficiently resourced to deliver a quality service to the public. In light of this report, and on the basis of calls not answered by the department, it is absolute madness for HMRC to press ahead with 15% job cuts both this year and next in its contact centres.
“We challenge the notion that the department are able to dispense with 35% of contact with customers who rely on personal contact; particularly those who are elderly and from an ethnic background.”
