Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the speech by the Brexit Opportunities Minister to the Policy That Works Conference on 1 March 2022, if he will publish examples of late payment letters issued by HM Revenue and Customs where Romanised words were replaced with Anglo-Saxon words to improve comprehension by taxpayers.

HMRC is doing a great deal of work to make letters easier for customers to read and understand. This is part of the commitment in the HMRC Charter to make its services accessible, easy, and quick to use.

HMRC has produced guidelines for its staff for writing to customers. The guidelines focus on avoiding unnecessarily formal or complex language. This includes using shorter, simpler Anglo-Saxon words rather than their more formal Romanised equivalents. For example, ‘need’, rather than ‘require’; ‘give’ rather than ‘provide’; and ‘help’ rather than ‘assist’.

HMRC is also investing in writing skills training for staff to continue to improve the quality of customer letters across the department.

HMRC has no plans to publish its standard letters as there are several thousands of them, the majority of which are tailored to specific circumstances.