Horwich Advertiser Issue 612

Page 18 August 2024 AD SALES 01204 478812 A DAMNING report by the UK’s public spending watchdog has declared that taxpayers are being let down by poor HMRC cus- tomer service. The National Audit Office (NAO) says HMRC has been caught in “a declining spiral of service pressures and cuts.” The stark findings have led to calls from small business for “urgent improvement” in service levels. That NAO report says: “Customers cumulatively spent 798 years on hold waiting to speak with HMRC in 2022- 23 – more than double the time spent waiting in 2019-20.” It adds that in 2022-23, HMRC spent £881million on customer service and that performance has “been below expected levels for telephone and cor- respondence for almost all of the last five years”. The watchdog says: “HMRC’s strat- egy is to encourage customers to turn to its digital services first so that que- ries can be resolved quickly and easily online. This is intended to cut costs servicing telephone calls and corre- spondence, as well as free up staff to serve people who need extra support. “However, it is not clear how far and fast digital will reduce demand for tele- phone and correspondence services. Digital services are better suited for straightforward queries and reporting changes in customers’ circumstances. “HMRC has not yet done enough to raise awareness of its digital services, increase customers’ confidence in using its online offering or understand how effectively these services meet custom- ers’ needs.” Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair, Feder- ation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: “The finding by the NAO that nearly half of all calls to HMRC go unan- swered says a lot. “Tax compliance is a huge headache for small firms, who spend on average 52 hours a year trying to sort out how much they need to pay, at a collective cost to small firms of £25billion, an eye- watering sum. “The long delays, troubles getting through, and struggle to speak to someone who can actually help rather than read from a script compound the stress for small business owners who have received letters from the tax authority saying there is a problem with their taxes. “We have previously criticised HMRC’s ‘guilty until proven innocent’ approach to its communications with small firms, which can leave business owners in a state of panic. “Every minute they’re unable to get through to someone who can help them sort things out means more worry and more alarm, which is why investment in HMRC’s customer service resources is so vital. “Digital avenues for support cer- tainly have their place, and many small THE launch of an online pay- ments service has made it eas- ier for people to check for and fill any gaps in their National Insurance (NI) record to help increase their State Pension. The recently launched Check your State Pension forecast is a joint service by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pen- sions (DWP). It shows people by how much their State Pension could increase and details of the voluntary NI contributions they would need to pay to achieve this. It allows most people under State Pension age to view gaps in their NI record and pay voluntary contributions to fill those gaps, if it will benefit them. Anyone with NI gaps in some of their tax years that could increase their State Pension if filled, can use the new digital service to choose which years they would like to pay to fill. They can then pay securely through the service and will receive confirmation that their payment has been received and that their NI record will be updated. Customers can access the Check your State Pension forecast via GOV.UK or via the HMRC app. Those who are eligible have until April 5, 2025 to pay voluntary con- tributions to make up gaps in their NI record between April 6 2006 and April 5 2018. From April 6 2025, people will only be able to pay voluntary con- tributions for the previous six tax years, in line with normal time limits. The deadline to pay voluntary contributions was extended last year for those affected by new State Pension transitional arrangements. It means that people now have more time to properly consider whether paying voluntary con- tributions is right for them and ensures no-one need miss out on the possibility of increasing their State Pension. Paying voluntary contributions will not always increase their State Pension but everyone can use the new service to check whether they could be better off in retire- ment before making any voluntary NI payments. People will need to login to the new digital service using their Per- sonal Tax Account login details. Those without an online HMRC account can register on GOV.UK. Plugging your pension gap Taxman ‘must do better’ phone lines were “still not where we want them to be”, but added: “We’re making strong progress in our efforts to improve our customer service, and additional funding has been confirmed by the government this week.” A spokesperson said: “Millions more people used our highly rated online services last year, saving them waiting on the phone and freeing up our advisers to deal with those people who need extra support.” THE high quality of the work delivered by Westhoughton’s Andy Sharpe, site manager at Bellway’s Lydiate Gate development in Liverpool, has been recognised with a top national award. Andy, 38, won a Quality Award this year in the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) annual Pride in the Job competition. He is one of just 449 site managers from across the UK to receive the accolade. Andy was selected from a pool of more than 8,000 site managers whose sites have been inspected by the NHBC over the past year, placing them among an elite group within the industry. As a winner, Andy is automatically entered into the next stage of the competition – the NHBC’s Seal of Excellence and Regional Awards, which will be awarded later in the year. The NHBC runs the Pride in the Job awards annually and every site registered with them is automatically entered into the competition. Each site manager is judged on a wide range of aspects of their work including attention to detail, leader- ship, technical expertise and health and safety. This is the second Pride in the Job award which Andy has won. His work was recognised in 2021. Andy said: “A lot of consistent hard work over a long period of time goes into these awards, so they really are a huge achievement for myself, but also the site team as a whole.” BUSINESS TO ADVERTISE CALL 01204 478812 £ National honour for Andy business owners are perfectly happy to use them. But there are some times when speaking to a real person is the only way to get something sorted, especially for queries which are anything other than totally straightforward.” She added: “The UK tax code is 10 million words long, and it’s impossible for small firms to match the in-house tax and finance exper- tise of their larger rivals. As well as improving customer service lev- els, HMRC should focus on ensur- ing that the guidance it provides is clear and as simple as possible to digest.” Responding to the report, HMRC accepted that customer service standards relating to its