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LITRG comments on the impact of HMRC proposals to reshape their ever-dwindling Enquiry Centre service still further.

Enquiry Centres – a slow death

Enquiry Centres were once the friendly “local” face of HMRC where an individual with a problem could drop in without an appointment and obtain face-to-face help. But HMRC have been cutting back on their face-to-face service for several years now with the result that we are left with ever fewer Enquiry Centres. And those that do remain frequently do not provide so valuable a service to HMRC’s vulnerable customers as once they did.

Equality Impact Assessment – the consultation

Earlier this year, HMRC launched a consultation on their Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) examining the effects of ‘changing’ (by which they seem to mean ‘scaling back’ even further) the Enquiry Centre service. 

From reading the consultation document, one very much gets the impression that HMRC have already decided on their strategy, based upon a belief that the reduction in footfall is in consequence of a decline in demand for face-to-face services. 

However our response, supported by voluntary sector experience, shows the converse – that demand for face-to-face services remains high, but the inaccessibility and frequently poor quality of the service now provided by Enquiry Centres has caused that demand to flow instead to the voluntary sector. Logically, a further scaling back of HMRC’s offering can lead only to further increased demand on the voluntary sector where face to face services continue to be available.

Moreover, the mitigation strategies that HMRC have identified lack depth and there is scant evidence of the detail having been thought through.

Our recommendations

Our key recommendations are twofold:

First, to improve HMRC’s own face to face offering, by both:

• making the remaining EC system more readily accessible and providing an exemplary service in accordance with HMRC’s Charter (especially to those who might have particular needs such as people with disabilities); and
• reinstating a high street presence by working in partnership with other central and local government bodies and the voluntary sector. 

And second, to carry out an urgent review to ensure that the voluntary sector is funded to meet the demand unfulfilled by HMRC. This should include providing core funding to the specific tax charities, TaxAid and TaxHelp for Older People, thus enabling them to provide a stable and ongoing service.

Useful links

LITRG website – ‘The Slow Death of the Enquiry Centre?’

LITRG’s full response to the consultation