HMRC complaint response times have reached a staggering five-year high, despite a recruitment blitz to hire thousands of additional staff. The average time for the tax office to respond to an initial complaint hit 40 days in 2025-26, up from 29.6 days in 2021-22.
Rising Complaints Despite More Staff
The number of employees at the tax authority has risen by nearly 3,000 over the same period. Tom Morrison, the Liberal Democrats MP who obtained the complaints data, said: “These figures are a damning indictment of HMRC’s performance.
“Behind every one of those complaints is a real person: a constituent of mine is owed a tax repayment, faces a £300 penalty for a return she was never contacted about, and has been told not to expect resolution before July.
“Multiply that across thousands of households and businesses nationwide and you start to understand the true cost of this failure. The Government needs to stop papering over the cracks and set out a credible plan to fix HMRC.”
Experts React
Tom Minnikin, of tax firm Forbes Dawson, said the data came as “no surprise”. He added: “Often it is HMRC delays that are the subject matter of the grievance itself, which only adds to the frustration when the complaint is mishandled.”
Joanne Walker, of the Low Income Tax Reform Group, said: “HMRC may also consider making a compensatory payment, if the reason for the complaint has caused the customer worry or distress, or if there has been an unreasonable delay.”
Government Response
Dan Tomlinson, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury who responded to the parliamentary question, said: “HMRC aims to get things right first time for its customers, but where this does not happen, it provides a straightforward and accessible complaints process to apologise and put things right.”
An HMRC spokesman added: “Complaints are down this year, and we’re committed to resolving those we do receive quickly and efficiently with more staff dedicated to achieving that. Our customer service has seen significant improvement with phone wait times now at just over 10 minutes and customer satisfaction at around 80pc.”
