HMRC AWARDS LETTER HANDLING CONTRACT TO COMMUNISIS

摘要

HMRC has signed an outsourcing contract with communication services provider Communisis to handle outbound taxpayer letters, as part of a move to streamline operations ahead of the move to Making Tax Digital. HMRC currently issues around 185m letters each year but its customer service levels for its phone contact centres and letter handling has come under sustained criticism from the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the last 18 months. In its most recent report, the NAO said that HMRC had originally forecast in 2010 that by March 2015, HMRC customers could expect it to answer 90% of telephone calls and deal with 80% of letters within 15 working days. Over time these targets have been reduced to take into account its past performance and reductions in the resources available, but HMRC has had considerable difficulty in meeting them consistently.