Tax Credit: Telephone Services: 20 Jan 2009: Written answers and statements (TheyWorkForYou.com)

Tax Credit: Telephone Services

Treasury

Written answers and statements, 20 January 2009

Jennifer Willott (Cardiff Central, Liberal Democrat)

(1) what the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average length of call to (i) the claimants' and (ii) hon. Members' tax credit helpline was in each of the last 24 months;

(2) how long on average it took for calls to (a) the claimants' and (b) hon. Members' tax credit helpline to be answered in each of the last 24 months;

(3) how many calls were (a) received, (b) handled and (c) unanswered by (i) the claimants' and (ii) hon. Members' tax credit helpline in each of the last 24 months;

(4) how long on average it took to answer calls made to the tax credits helplines for (a) claimants and (b) hon. Members in each of the last 24 months; what the duration of the (i) longest and (ii) shortest call to each was in each month; and what the average call duration was;

(5) how many calls were (a) received on, (b) handled by and (c) unanswered by the tax credit helplines for (i) claimants and (ii) hon. Members in each of the last 24 months;

(6) how many calls have been received via the tax credit helpline for hon. Members in each month since it was established.

Stephen Timms (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; East Ham, Labour)

The information requested about the (a) longest and (b) shortest length of call is not readily available and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost. I would also refer the hon. Member to previous answers provided by my right hon. Friend the then Paymaster General—25 June 2007, Hansard, column 418W, 31 January 2008, Hansard , column 682W, and 14 July 2008, Hansard, column 152W—where elements of the requested information have been provided. The remaining information is detailed in the following table.

Tax credits helpline
	Average call handling time^{( 1)} (m:ss)	Average time to talk to adviser^{( 2)} (m:ss)	Calls received^{( 3)}	Calls handled^{( 4)}	Abandoned^{( 5)}	Busy and engaged^{( 6)}
2006
December	05:12	00:16	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—

2007
January	05:13	00:19	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—
February	05:06	00:18	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—
March	04:31	00:17	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—
April	05:04	00:28	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—	⁽⁷⁾—
May	05:45	01:49	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	221	846
June	05:50	02:01	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	265	818
July	06:03	03:50	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	402	4,063
August	05:44	01:03	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	103	247
September	05:52	01:49	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	184	369
October	05:34	00:52	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	74	120
November	05:35	00:31	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	34	69
December	05:32	00:29	⁽⁹⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	25	42

2008
January	06:04	02:12	⁽⁹⁾—	1,621	209	315
February	06:05	01:03	⁽⁹⁾—	1,518	82	120
March	06:05	00:59	⁽⁹⁾—	1,375	71	81
April	06:10	02:34	2,270	1,963	307	1,119
May	06:32	04:31	2,780	2,193	586	2,897
June	06:40	04:12	3,098	2,486	611	2,661
July	06:46	04:36	3,851	3,070	781	7,133
August	06:21	01:18	2,197	2,049	147	334
September	06:22	01:48	2,130	1,932	198	455
October	06:19	00:38	1,628	1,581	47	56
November	06:23	00:18	1,415	1,402	13	19
⁽¹⁾ Average call handling time is the time spent by the customer on the phone together with any additional time taken by the adviser after the call to complete any tasks. ⁽²⁾ Average time to talk to adviser is the time taken for the call to be answered by an adviser once the caller has selected an option from the call steering menu. ⁽³⁾ Calls received, where the caller selected an option from the call steering menu and the call was placed into the queue to speak to an adviser. ⁽⁴⁾ Handled, where the caller spoke to an adviser. ⁽⁵⁾ Abandoned, where the call was disconnected after the caller selected an option from the call steering menu, but before being connected to speak to an adviser. ⁽⁶⁾ Engaged and busy, where the caller was played either a busy message or received the engaged tone when they rang. ⁽⁷⁾ Details provided previously, 25 June 2007, Official Report, column 418W. ⁽⁸⁾ Details provided previously, 31 January 2008, Official Report, column 682W. ⁽⁹⁾ Details provided previously, 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 152W. Note: With the exception of times, figures are shown in thousands.

Average call times on the tax credits helpline fluctuate according to peaks in the business. The peak in demand in July reflects the tax credits renewals statutory deadline date of 31 July. There is an increasing trend, encouraged by HMRC, towards renewing by telephone rather than by post. This has been shown to provide more accurate, up-to-date information, and so reduce overpayments.

Between 1 December 2006 and 31 November 2008, on average, it took between 16 and 24 seconds for calls to be answered. For the number of calls to the hon. Members' tax credit helpline handled by the Tax Credit Office MP hotline, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 10 December 2008, Hansard, columns 199-200W.

Information about the number of calls received and unanswered is provided in the following table.

	Number of calls to Tax Credit Office MP hotline	Calls handled	Calls abandoned or unanswered
2007
June	1,335	1,291	44
July	1,081	1,071	10
August	989	976	13
September	1,170	1,146	24
October	1,419	1,404	15
November	1,249	1,233	16
December	898	887	11

2008
January	950	934	16
February	1,039	1,025	14
March	800	775	25
April	966	947	19
May	1,042	994	48
June	1,173	1,118	55
July	1,101	1,083	18
August	848	826	22
September	1,025	⁽¹⁾1,009	16
October	1,127	⁽¹⁾1,114	13
November	911	⁽¹⁾877	34
⁽¹⁾ Figures for September, October and November 2008 correct those provided in the answer given on 10 December 2008, Official Report, columns 199-200W.

Information about the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average length of calls to the Members' tax credit hotline is not available.

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