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Taxman puts 350 more call centre operators in place
Extremely high levels responses to invitations to query the need to complete a self assessment (SA) return has meant many taxpayers and advisers have faced difficulties in contacting HMRC by phone over recent weeks, according to the department.
The taxman has apologised to the people who have been unable to get through and has taken steps to tackle the additional demand:
- 350 staff members have been move to contact centres from other duties;
- all self assessment-trained staff within contact centres have been focussed on to the lines dealing with SA calls; and
- managers and trainers have been shifted to front-line contact centre services.
The Revenue – which in the past has been criticised for failing to efficiently handle phone queries from taxpayers and their advisers – claims the changes have already led to an improvement in its SA advice set-up.
