HMRC to make use of voice recognition in bid to scale back name ready instances

Taxpayers and accountants will soon be able to use their voice as a password to get through to HMRC, the Government announced this week.

The tax office, which has been widely criticised for its customer service, has started a trial of voice recognition software, allowing customers to use their voice to pass security checks faster and more securely.

The trial follows meetings between Treasury minister James Murray, HMRC officials and companies, including Natwest and Octopus Energy, to learn how best to approach customer service.

The trial is expected to be rolled out across HMRC over the rest of the year, and the tax office is also looking at generative AI to point taxpayers to online advice.

More companies are using AI in customer service to aid customer service agents with account information.

HMRC trial: The tax office will start to roll out voice recognition to speed up calls 

And while voice recognition may speed up security checks, taxpayers could still be left waiting after the tax office said it had not been adequately resourced to meet telephone demand.

There has been a much higher demand for HMRC services as a result of more people paying tax due to fiscal drag, and waiting times have deteriorated.

A recent report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that average call waiting times reached record levels to exceed 23 minutes in 2023/24, up from 16 minutes 24 seconds in 2022/23.

The report also accused HMRC of deliberately degrading its own phone services, something the tax office strongly denied.

The report also found HMRC answered just 66.3 per cent of customers attempts to speak to an adviser, falling short of its 85 per cent target. 

It last met its annual target for phone services in 2017/18.

However, HMRC said it had met its target of 85 per cent of calls handled between October and December 2024 and expects to meet its customer service standards in 2025/26.

The Government also announced plans to launch a new service to provide an escalation route for agents with Self-Assessment and PAYE queries that are over 4 weeks old.

It said advisers will adopt a ‘once and done’ approach, meaning agents will stay with a case until it’s closed.

Ellen Milner, director of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said: ‘We welcome the government’s focus on simplifying the tax system and improving customer service – rightly two key priorities for HMRC as the tax authority heads into its third decade.

‘A more straightforward, easy to navigate tax system could free up business owners and managers to focus on growing their businesses, rather than spending their days overcoming bureaucratic hurdles. 

‘We especially welcome the announcement of a new approach to dealing with slow-moving income tax queries from agents. Hopefully, in due course, this can be expanded to unrepresented taxpayers and to other taxes.’