A report released by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has further criticised HM Revenue & Custom’s (HMRC) phone service. It found that nearly 44,000 customers were cut off without warning after being put on hold for more than an hour in the first 11 months of last year.

Having criticised HMRC’s phone service last year, the committee said the service was worse again since it’s last report. It said HMRC had “damaged trust in the tax system” as a result.

The chair of the PAC, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, has suggested that HMRC is degrading the service as a matter of policy.

HMRC has refuted this, with HMRC chief executive Jim Harra saying that the tax authority has made huge improvements to their service standards. He cited a cut in call waiting times of 17 minutes since April.

In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Chancellor committed to investing £1.7 billion over the next five years to recruit an additional 5,000 HMRC compliance staff and 1,800 HMRC debt management staff. The report perhaps just confirms that this investment is needed by HMRC.

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