§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what performance targets have been set for the tax credit helpline; and what have been the monthly performance levels against those targets since the helpline was established. [94237]
§ Dawn PrimaroloA helpline was set up in August 2002 to handle detailed inquiries about the two new tax credits—Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit. The introduction of these two new tax credits in April 2003 represents a large one-off piece of work for the Inland Revenue. That work includes handling telephone enquiries and processing claims. The helpline has not been set stand-alone performance targets because, as a one-off exercise, call handling and claims processing are effectively being managed as a single stream of work—allowing resources to be allocated across the two in the light of changing workload priorities.
The underlying aim at the helpline is to ensure that people can get through when they need to. That is monitored in a number of ways, including looking at the volume of calls received and handled. The best available evidence on calls made and calls received indicates that, in each month since August 2002, a high proportion—certainly more than 90 per cent.—of callers have got through on the same day.