What's gone wrong at the 'disastrously understaffed' 税金 office? We speak to an insider
- 商売／仕事 owners are left waiting hours to get in touch with HMRC??
- One insider tells us the 税金 office is 'disastrously' understaffed
- 失望させるd 従業員??接触する: angharad.carrick@thisismoney.co.uk?
商売／仕事 owners and accountants have become 井戸／弁護士席-熟知させるd with the 大混乱 at HM 歳入 & Customs (HMRC) for some time.??
The 押し進める for a 数字表示式の 税金 system has left some waiting months to receive basic 税金 （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）.
The 'seasonal' 終結 of the self-査定／評価 helpline until September has drawn particular 怒らせる from 商売／仕事 owners who needed to send their 年４回の 税金 return by 31 July.
It comes just a short while after the 永久の 終結 of the HMRC 付加価値税 登録 helpline.
大混乱 at the 税金 office: HMRC insider tells This Is Money the 税金 office is 'disastrously' understaffed
It is just a snapshot of the 混乱 the 税金 office has 設立する itself in, and now one insider tells Thi s is Money about the reality of working there.?
We look at what's gone so wrong at the 税金 office that has left 商売／仕事 owners waiting hours to get through to an 助言者.?
数字表示式の 税金 押し進める goes off course
In 2016, HMRC 発表するd its 旗艦 digitisation programme, Making 税金 数字表示式の, 要求するing 商売／仕事s and individuals to keep 数字表示式の 記録，記録的な／記録するs and 報告（する）／憶測 their income 年４回の.
It was meant to maximise 税金 歳入, save the 政府 cash and 改善する 顧客 service.?
But in the seven years since HMRC rolled out the programme, which has gone £1billion over 予算, you'd be hard-圧力（をかける）d to find any such 改良.
Many say that 顧客 service has 悪化するd to an 容認できない level and 商売／仕事 owners have spent hours on the phone trying to get through to a 顧客 service 助言者, only to be told they must go online.
One 商売／仕事 owner told This is Money he was left waiting over three months to receive his 付加価値税 number, which had cost him a t hird of his income.
Since then, This Is Money has heard from more readers who have been left in the dark.?
One reader has been left waiting for months to receive their 付加価値税 number before 存在 told they'd have to wait 10 days for it to be 地位，任命するd.?
It means they will have waited 70 days to receive their 付加価値税 number and has said they 推定する／予想する to only be 始める，決める up 適切に by September and start invoicing, six months after setting up the 商売／仕事.??
にもかかわらず HMRC's 押し進める to moving its 顧客s to the online portal, 商売／仕事 owners have to wait to receive 確定／確認 of the 付加価値税 使用／適用 経由で 地位，任命する, rather than its 安全な・保証する online system. HMRC says this is an an anti-詐欺 手段.
Another 商売／仕事 owner said they had been waiting for over four months for their 付加価値税 number and it's having a knock-on 影響 on their 商売／仕事.
'I have good, 正規の／正選手 顧客s that have been waiting as long as four months to 埋め立てる 付加価値税 that I've 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d them, and [they're] starting to lose patience which could be very 高くつく／犠牲の大きい to my 商売／仕事,' they said.
Accountants are 平等に as 失望させるd with the system. One told This is Money they had spent over nine hours on the phone to HMRC across one week, looking to chase a 付加価値税 登録.
Heather Rogers, 創立者 and owner of Aston Accountancy, and This is Money's 税金 columnist, said: 'The 数字表示式の services are 限られた／立憲的な at HMRC, 特に if something has gone wrong. It is in these 状況／情勢s, that direct 接触する is necessary. Chatbots on 税金 問題／発行するs do not work.?
'HMRC seem to be 溺死するing. Taxpayers and 助言者s are too.'?
What's gone so wrong at HMRC?
The pandemic seems to have been the main catalyst for the problems.
A 報告（する）／憶測 by the 委員会 of Public Accounts, published earlier this year, 設立する 地位，任命する and call 扱うing had fallen 意味ありげに during the pandemic.?
In 2021-22 HMRC 答える／応じるd to 39.5 per cent of mail within 15 days, compared to 70.3 per cent in 2019-20.
The 普通の／平均（する） 速度(を上げる） of answering calls was 6:39 minutes in 2019-20, which rose to 12:22 minutes in 2021-22.
An HMRC insider, who 作品 in 顧客 services, told This is Money 不明な: 'Before Covid it was perfectly 罰金, there were enough people and it was a good 職業.?
'There were busy periods but it wasn't constant. Then Covid 攻撃する，衝突する and things went haywire.'
The relentless 押し進める to digitise the 税金 system seems to have backfired, にもかかわらず HMRC's 主張 in the 報告（する）／憶測 that the 数字表示式の 押し進める would 改善する 顧客 service.?
This does not seem to have been the 事例／患者.
The HMRC 従業員 said that while the pandemic had not helped 事柄s: 'it can't be held accountable… it was three years ago.'
Instead they point to a change in the way 顧客 services 助言者s are managed, and each 地域 of the UK 存在 given their own 単独の skillset. They say it has meant trained 助言者s in different 場所s 'now have redundant 技術s'.
However, an HMRC 広報担当者 said: 'We have a 柔軟な 全労働人口 spread across the country who are ready to adapt to 会合，会う the needs of our 顧客s. Where they are based is 完全に irrelevant.'
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Others 示唆する HMRC's home-working 政策 since the pandemic has slowed 過程s 負かす／撃墜する, which is unproven.
The 議長，司会を務める of the 財務省 委員会 has already written to HMRC about the 一時的な 終結.?
It has asked whether it is 関係のある to HMRC's homeworking 政策, and whether it had been introduced because of staffing 問題／発行するs.
Harriett Baldwin MP said: 'Given the 潜在的に 重要な 衝撃 の近くにing the self-査定／評価 helpline may have on taxpayers, we're looking for 解明 that HMRC has fully considered the costs and 利益s of this 決定／判定勝ち（する）.'
An HMRC 広報担当者 told This is Money: 'All our staff here are held to the same 基準s whether they are working from an HMRC building or from home.
'Hybrid working is now part of HMRC's 申し込む／申し出 to 同僚s, giving them the 適切な時期 to work from home for two days per week - 支配する to our 操作の 必要物／必要条件s.'
The 拒絶する／低下するing numbers of staff, which has occurred at the same time as the digitisation programme, seems to be the 核心 問題／発行する though.?
The 普通の／平均（する） number of staff has fallen from 25,500 to 19,500 in five years and the 終結 of the 付加価値税 登録 and self-査定／評価 helplines will do little to plug this gap.
A letter to the （ドイツなどの）首相／（大学の）学長 from 主要な 産業 人物／姿／数字s, 含むing the 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of the 借り切る／憲章d 学校／設ける of 課税, said 'a major underlying problem is insufficient 資源ing and underinvestment in HMRC's systems'.
Our source said the 税金 office is '徹底的に… hilariously understaffed'.
HMRC says the seasonal 終結 of the self-査定／評価 helpline will 解放する／自由な up 350 助言者s to 補助装置 with '緊急の' enquiries.?
But an extra few hundred 助言者s is likely be of little help to the thousands of 商売／仕事 owners who need to とじ込み／提出する their 税金 returns in the next month.?
The 匿名の／不明の HMRC 従業員 told us: 'They've been trying to 押し進める 数字表示式の [but] it's just not a very good service.'
Victoria Atkins MP, the 大臣 責任がある the UK 税金 system, wrote to the 協会 of Accounting 専門家技術者s and said?HMRC are 現在／一般に 取引，協定ing with 70,000 calls a day and 顧客 satisfaction is 終始一貫して around 80 per cent.?
Rogers said: 'This is demonstrably not the 事例／患者 in my experience, nor the undersigned of the letter sent [to the （ドイツなどの）首相／（大学の）学長] in March, which 論証するs the 失望／欲求不満 we are all feeling.
'It also doesn't square with HMRC's 告示, that the helpline will be の近くにd for the summer to move staff の上に 取引，協定ing with amongst other 事柄s, the backlog of 地位，任命する. On HMRC's website, on the summer 終結 of their telephone line, it 明言する／公表するs that they will be 取引，協定ing with only 6,600 緊急の calls a day.'??
'I dread logging into work'
商売／仕事 owners might have been left reeling by the abrupt summer 終結 of self-査定／評価, but an HMRC insider 示唆するs staff were also left in the dark.
'We didn't know what was happening [with the 終結 of the helpline]... we 設立する out when we logged on that day.'?
HMRC did not 答える／応じる to this （人命などを）奪う，主張する.
For 顧客 services 助言者s, who are paid a £22,845 十分な-time salary, the 強調する／ストレス of the 職業 is 巨大な.?
Our source said 助言者s, who receive just a few weeks of training, have had to を取り引きする calls from 商売／仕事 owners who were on the 瀬戸際 of a mental health 危機.?
'It's 理解できる why people are leaving,' they said.
'It's 徹底的に different to what I 心配するd… I dread logging in.
'We don't have any 力／強力にする - we get told what's happening and we've just had to do it. It feels like we're yes men.'
'I'm 失望させるd - there's so many things that could be done so much better. The people in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 don't have a 手がかり（を与える）.'
Are you a 失望させるd HMRC 従業員 or a 商売／仕事 owner who has been left in the dark? Email angharad.carrick@thisismoney.co.uk with HMRC in the 支配する line?
