Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions were calls to HMRC ended before the caller was connected, during January (a) 2022, (b) 2023, (c) 2024 and (d) 2025.

Every year, HMRC answers millions of calls. HMRC has published monthly telephony performance data which covers the requested time period. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports

This data includes information about the number of calls received, the number of customers who wanted to speak to an adviser and the proportion of callers that got through to an adviser (adviser attempts handled – AAH).

There are several reasons why somebody calling HMRC may not speak to an adviser – the customer may have had their query answered by HMRC’s recorded messages, they may have found the information they require online or they may have decided to call back another time.

Improving day-to-day performance is a key priority for HMRC.

HMRC are taking steps to make sure more of their services are digital. HMRC online services and the HMRC app are convenient to access and receive high customer satisfaction ratings. As more people use HMRC online services, advisers are freed up to support those with more complex queries and those who are digitally excluded.