MPs warn of 'disastrous decline' in HMRC customer service

In a report by the Commons public accounts committee MPs said they were "not convinced" HMRC's digital switch-over would not repeat the "collapse" of 2014-15, when call waiting times tripled, the BBC reported. Currently waiting times are about five minutes with plans to get that down further, according to HMRC. However, customer service staff are due to be cut by about a third as HMRC expects more people to access services digitally. It has to save £98m by 2021, which means employing 16% fewer staff and closing 137 offices, the BBC wrote. HMRC plans to automate most processes and h...