Ian Cass the Managing director of the Forum of Private business reacted to the announcement from Ruth Owen, HMRC’s Director General of Customer service

Ian Cass the Managing director of the Forum of Private business reacted to the announcement from Ruth Owen, HMRC’s Director General of Customer service who said,

“We recognise that early in 2015 we didn’t provide the standard of service that people are entitled to expect and we apologised at the time. We have since fully recovered and are now offering our best service levels in years”.

“Over the past six months we’ve consistently answered calls in an average of six minutes, and have launched new online tax accounts and webchat for everyone, enabling customers to manage their tax affairs wherever and whenever they want.”

“The Forum have been working with HMRC in a proactive manner in recent months to point out the inadequacies of their services, particularly towards Small business and their accountants and bookkeepers, who when faced with an issue not covered by the standard online documentation were struggling to contact anyone in HMRC by phone without an excessive wait of in some cases nearly an hour. It’s great to see them reacting, adding additional resources, 800 new staff and cutting the telephone waiting time down dramatically, the Forum and our members welcome the improvements and look forward to working with HMRC towards further positive changes in the future.”


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About Forum of Private Business

The Forum of Private Business is a not-for-profit comprehensive business support organisation founded in 1977. Our membership is spread throughout the UK and primarily made up of companies that employ between 1-50 employees, helping them to manage employees, saving time, giving advice, support and protection where a business needs it. We are a recognised leading authority on business issues and represent the interests of business owners on many consultative bodies. We have built a solid reputation, being influential in many areas of policy-making, in changing laws that affect small businesses, and we continue to campaign for the fair treatment of businesses within the UK. Everything we do is about making sure our members’ businesses operate profitably. This means that every penny we make goes back in to supporting our members, providing the support and resources that will enable businesses to flourish and grow.


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