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HMRC slammed for call handling
HMRC cost its customers £136m by keeping them dangling on the phone, a damning National Audit Office (NAO) report reveals today.
NAO criticised the tax office for giving customers “poor value”. It found those who got through to HMRC in 2011-12 had to wait on average 282 seconds to speak to an adviser.
Between April and September 2011, 6.5m customers waited more than ten minutes to have their call answered. NAO said that equates to £33m in call charges and gave a value of £103m for wasted time.