The decision to give a knighthood to HMRC’s chief is “an insult to British taxpayers”, a campaign group has said, highlighting the tax authority’s woeful customer service.
HMRC chief Jim Harra, who has headed the authority since 2019, received a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours list announced last Friday.
In the government statement announcing the decision, it said he has “put fairness and public trust at the heart of everything HMRC does by promoting the department’s vital purpose of funding the UK’s public services, prioritising helping taxpayers to get things right and ensuring that the exercise of enforcement powers is proportionate.”
It also highlighted his role in making sure HMRC delivered support during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the agency has come under intense scrutiny for its abysmal customer service in recent years.
In February, MPs said that HMRC’s customer service was at an “all-time low”, highlighting the ever-increasing waiting times for callers waiting to speak with HMRC officials to ask for help and support.
A National Audit Office report last month found that taxpayers spend the equivalent of almost 800 years on hold to the agency in 2022-23 – more than double the time in 2019-20. The report said funding pressures, job cuts and a push to get people to handle their taxes online was behind the deterioration in its call-handling performance.
Read more
Spending watchdog says HMRC in ‘declining spiral’ and needs to rethink ‘unprecedented’ job cuts
TaxPayers’ Alliance, a right-wing campaign group, slammed the decision to award Harra a knighthood.
“This knighthood will feel like an insult to British taxpayers who have been left scarred by HMRC’s blunted service standards,” a spokesperson for the group told City A.M.
“During a time when staff have refused to come into the office and are failing to even pick up the phone, now is not the time to dish out honours when so many families are struggling,” they said. “If HMRC wants to be awarded for public service it should first get its house in order by improving its service for hard-working taxpayers.”
HMRC was contacted for comment.