Umbrella company contractors may be interested to learn that MPs do not accept HMRC’s excuse that problems with implementing NPS were to blame for poor standards of service.
The Commons Select Committee welcomed the Revenue’s admission that service standards were unacceptable but said issues surrounding the standard of service have been going on more many years and the department could not use the implementation of the new NI and PAYE Service as an excuse.
The Committee expressed its disappointment that HMRC had not done more to develop performance indicators that give a realistic view of customers’ end-to-end experience even though its predecessor committee had recommended such action be taken in 2007.
The report highlighted three areas of concern in the service standards provided by HMRC. These were access to telephone advice, response to postal enquiries and offering offline alternatives to online filing and assistance.
MPs also pointed out that HMRC’s claim that it had saved £1.1 billion without negatively affecting its performance lacked credibility. The committee found that its witnesses were nearly unanimous in their opinion that the decline in the standard of service was linked to budget cuts.
The Committee has called on the coalition to refrain from making any further cuts to HMRC’s budget.
Mike Clasper, the chairman of HMRC, did admit that things did not run smoothly for much of 2010 and claimed the department had been working extremely hard to improve things this year. More calls are now handled immediately and the mail backlog has reduced by half. Things still aren’t as good as the department would like, but they are much better than they were last year, he added.
© 2011 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Image: Sunday Morning by overgraeme
