Press release: Tax bodies tell HMRC its service must not suffer because of restructuring

HMRC has announced today a restructure that will see its 170 offices close and be replaced by 13 regional centres as part of a ten-year programme.

Chris Jones, CIOT President, said:

“Taxpayers and tax professionals alike will be anxious that a public body that is struggling to meet its public-facing service targets1 has announced that it is about to lose many staff and close its local offices. It is crucial that HMRC retains as many appropriately qualified and experienced staff as it can.

“It is vital that HMRC closely and continuously monitors what the impact of its restructure is on the quality of its service to the public, over the next ten years and acts promptly to rectify any failure to meet its targets and then adapt its plans.

“We simply cannot wait until ten years’ time to see whether the changes meet HMRC’s goal to transform its service to taxpayers – they must have an immediate effect that is felt by ordinary people.”

Paul Hill, Chair of the ATT’s Technical Steering Group, said:

“It is vital that any adverse impacts of the transition on HMRC’s customers and staff are minimised. If service standards suffer in the process, tax compliance could decrease significantly and that could erode or even wipe out the eventual savings which the restructuring is intended to deliver.

“HMRC is in an unenviable position. It has to cope with reduced resources, introduce fundamental changes in the way that we all deal with the department and consolidate its staff into 13 regional centres. None of that will be easy but we look forward to helping HMRC identify how to achieve and maintain a high quality service over the transitional period.

“It is essential that specific provisions are in place, such as ensuring that HMRC is able to stage face to face meetings with a taxpayer in a convenient location.”

Notes to editors

1. In its report on HMRC ‘s performance in 2014/15, published earlier this week, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that ‘HMRC is still failing to provide an acceptable service to customers and could not tell us when it would be able to do so’. PAC reports that HMRC answered 72.5 per cent of calls during 2014/15 (39 per cent were answered within five minutes) and only 50 per cent in the first six months of 2015 against an unambitious target of 80 per cent. PAC is concerned that ‘customer service levels are so bad that they are having an adverse impact on the collection of tax revenues’. PAC’s  ‘6th Report - HM Revenue and Customs performance in 2014-15’ can be viewed  here.
2. Vital that present failures at HMRC strengthen its determination to move to a more systemic approach to tax collection in the long-term, says tax body.