The government tax department is about to embark on a transformation initiative intended to eliminate about 100 million letters currently sent each year, while also driving more overall interactions online
HM Revenue and Customs is shortly to begin a transition to a “digital-first approach” to communicating with citizens, in a move it hopes will save £50m and eliminate about 100 million letters each year.
The tax agency has also achieved a rate of about 80% digitisation of all customer interactions – as it strives to hit a 90% benchmark by the end of this decade.
This latter target was set during last year’s spending review, which also provided backing of £500m to support the shift.
At the time of the fiscal exercise, the department had a reported digitisation rate of 70% – a figure which had risen to 76% by later in 2025. As of late last month, HMRC conducts about four in every five interactions digitally, according to a recent letter to parliament’s Public Accounts Committee from departmental chief executive John-Paul Marks.
The CEO cited a number of “key digital service improvements” made by the tax agency during the current fiscal year, including: “further developing online PAYE services, so customers can view the most up to date information we hold and report changes that affect their tax; [and] expanding voice biometrics to simplify telephone verification, making authentication safer and faster, shortening call-handling times, and improving the customer experience”.
These upgrades will be supplemented by efforts focused on “transforming the way we communicate with customers as we gradually transition to a digital-first approach from April 2026 onwards”, Marks wrote.
Currently, the department is understood to send around 130 million items of post each year. The soon-to-launch digital switch intends to reduce this figure by 75% by March 2029 – which would equate to the elimination of around 100 million letters currently received by citizens and businesses around the country. In doing so, HMRC expects to achieve annual savings of £50m currently required for printing and postage costs.
The chief exec told MPs that moving to digitised alternatives would also enable service improvements.
“Digital communications will help customers receive tax codes, payment reminders, and refund notifications more quickly, leading to improved service and reduced delays,” he said. “Nonetheless, customers using HMRC digital services that still have a need for paper communications and those who are digitally excluded will still have access to paper correspondence.”
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The department’s ambitions to improve customer-service improvements will also be assisted by the creation of the role of chief customer officer, with incumbent HMRC director general Myrtle Lloyd appointed to the position.
“Myrtle is supported in this role by our new Customer Experience Directorate, to ensure our transformation plans and other changes enhance customer outcomes while maintaining strong performance against our charter,” Marks said.
Good call
The departmental leader told MPs that the performance data demonstrates “that more calls are being answered and waiting times have reduced” in recent months, following several years of high-profile difficulties.
The department’s stated ambition is to answer 85% of all calls to its helplines. But, for a period of more than three whole years, for 39 consecutive months from June 2021 to October 2024, the 85% target was not met – and for all but the first six of these months the figure did not even pass 80%. The annual averages for the 2022, 23, and 24 fiscal years declined from 77.3%, to 71.1% and, finally, 66.4%.
While a marked improvement has been made, monthly data shows that the 85% target has still often been lagged in the current 2026 financial year. But the threshold was exceeded as 2025 drew to a close, Marks wrote to the parliamentary committee.
“In November, 85.3% of callers who wanted to speak to an adviser had their calls answered, exceeding our 85% target, and the average speed of answer was 13 minutes and 27 seconds,” he said. “For 2025/26 so far, calls have been answered in just over 13 minutes on average, down from over 19 minutes for the same period in 2024- 25. Despite these improvements we recognise that some customers are still waiting too long and achieving further improvement is a priority for us.”
HMRC has also performed better in its response to “priority correspondence” during November, with 87.8% of such enquiries being deal with within 15 days – a figure well in excess of the 80% target.
“Customer satisfaction with our phone, webchat and digital services was 80.0% for the year to end of November… meeting our 80% customer satisfaction target,” Marks wrote. “We recognise the continued importance of our telephone and correspondence services and remain committed to maintaining service standards through to 2029-30.”
