Revenue publishes customer service standards targets and results

The Inland Revenue has published the results of its customer service audit over the past year as well as its service targets for 2001 - 2002.

The Revenue's Service Standards Website shows the Department to have met many of its targets from the previous year.

Results for 2000/2001 are:

• Responding to post - Target 80 per cent, Achievement 84 per cent;
• Attending to callers at Inland Revenue Centres within 15 minutes - Target 95 per cent, Achievement 99 per cent;
• Telephone calls answered at switchboard in 30 seconds - Target 90 per cent, Achievement 96 per cent;
• Non-Self Assessment Calculating tax correctly (Employees & pensioners not within Self-Assessment) - Target 88 per cent, Achievement 89 per cent;
• Self-assessment Calculating tax correctly (Employees, pensioners, Self-employed, etc... who fall within Self-Assessment) Target 77 per cent, Achievement 80 per cent;
• Repayments Claims worked in 20 days - Target 95 per cent, Achievement 98 per cent.

The Revenue has also set itself the following Customer Service Standards targets for the period 2001 - 2002:

• Answering post
  Respond fully to 80 per cent of our post within 15 working days;
• Attending to callers at our Enquiry Centres
  To see 95 per cent of our callers without an appointment at our Inland Revenue Enquiry Centres within 15 minutes;
• Telephone Standards
  90 per cent of all calls to local offices answered within 20 seconds;
  
  
• Calculating tax correctly in every respect first time for customers
  83 per cent of taxpayers within Self-Assessment,
  89 per cent of taxpayers outside of Self-Assessment;
• Repayments
  Claims worked in 20 days - 96 per cent.

The publishing of the results comes after the Office of the Adjudicator's recent recommendation that the Inland Revenue pays a total of £481,612 to individuals and businesses for failed investigations and flaws in its enquiry work.

The recommendations were made in Adjudicator, Dame Barbara Mills QC's Annual Report for 2001, which highlighted a four per cent increase in the number of complaints about the Inland Revenue.

A Revenue spokesman commented: "These are good results on which to build."

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Richard Powell, UKTECH