Treasury: Telephone Services
(asked on 20th November 2025) - View Source
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total number of calls (a) answered (b) abandoned was for each public helpline number provided by her Department and its executive agencies for each year from 2015 to date.
Every year, HMRC answers millions of calls. A call is recorded as ‘answered’ when a customer got through to an adviser after hearing the automated messages and choosing the option to speak to an adviser (this is also referred to as ‘adviser attempts handled’ (AAH) in HMRC published data).
A call is recorded as ‘abandoned’ when a customer hears the automated messages and chooses the option to speak to an adviser, but then hangs up before their call is answered.
Customers may hang up before their call is answered for a number of reasons. For example, they 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.
The below tables provide a breakdown of calls answered and calls abandoned over the past ten years for HMRC’s main helplines:
Calls answered | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 YTD |
Child Benefit | 1,815,166 | 2,071,590 | 2,009,135 | 1,777,736 | 1,712,300 | 1,386,818 | 1,569,267 | 1,377,817 | 1,017,140 | 1,142,678 | 833,880 |
National Insurance | 1,483,095 | 1,671,677 | 1,475,416 | 1,377,855 | 1,349,929 | 1,069,710 | 1,247,349 | 1,242,943 | 1,097,036 | 1,044,772 | 682,058 |
Tax Credits Helpline and Tax Credits Payment Helpline – combined figures | 11,509,090 | 11,581,913 | 9,265,206 | 6,671,778 | 4,557,161 | 2,343,044 | 1,895,384 | 1,587,633 | 1,147,483 | 647,815 | 109,086 |
Corporation Tax | 373,190 | 500,940 | 508,270 | 475,961 | 441,835 | 378,406 | 507,372 | 506,145 | 421,603 | 378,862 | 231,741 |
Stamp duty land tax | 112,333 | 154,415 | 164,259 | 144,667 | 131,610 | 100,624 | 122,429 | 122,582 | 107,538 | 103,229 | 71,526 |
Agent Dedicated Line | 1,707,224 | 1,851,753 | 1,432,405 | 1,360,234 | 1,374,380 | 705,308 | 968,925 | 1,041,355 | 640,405 | 503,105 | 289,091 |
Construction Industry Scheme Helpline | 584,630 | 496,413 | 376,861 | 343,789 | 334,675 | 225,708 | 293,478 | 281,009 | 239,920 | 168,990 | 94,016 |
Employers Helpline | 819,618 | 984,212 | 976,437 | 939,286 | 755,040 | 588,062 | 650,432 | 686,890 | 589,002 | 506,637 | 328,452 |
Online Services Helpline | 675,158 | 1,073,270 | 982,535 | 730,981 | 635,733 | 548,319 | 688,575 | 780,038 | 978,228 | 932,393 | 611,680 |
PAYE | 6,513,062 | 8,913,008 | 8,199,621 | 7,707,564 | 7,127,556 | 4,703,878 | 5,973,909 | 5,908,209 | 4,405,365 | 4,586,352 | 3,177,096 |
Self Assessment Helpline | 2,389,400 | 3,094,058 | 3,444,452 | 3,219,552 | 3,236,719 | 2,560,862 | 2,602,917 | 2,643,691 | 1,441,380 | 1,904,363 | 1,113,666 |
VAT | - | 282,301 | 644,072 | 585,882 | 771,572 | 500,095 | 623,494 | 657,205 | 486,335 | 395,747 | 277,184 |
Calls abandoned | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 YTD |
Child Benefit | 653,242 | 190,353 | 147,771 | 171,017 | 224,611 | 194,436 | 267,186 | 410,792 | 332,543 | 256,223 | 146,160 |
National Insurance | 891,375 | 126,759 | 118,987 | 156,762 | 132,920 | 109,035 | 196,346 | 415,222 | 336,696 | 277,058 | 84,032 |
Tax Credits Helpline and Tax Credits Payment Helpline – combined figures | 2,295,327 | 596,654 | 726,769 | 599,007 | 539,088 | 360,618 | 565,334 | 420,411 | 334,029 | 208,923 | 10,735 |
Corporation Tax | 99,498 | 37,064 | 51,406 | 45,763 | 63,957 | 35,267 | 78,894 | 89,900 | 68,084 | 56,574 | 35,108 |
Stamp duty land tax | 16,518 | 9,969 | 12,634 | 13,924 | 16,321 | 6,208 | 10,556 | 17,648 | 10,108 | 8,384 | 5,989 |
Agent Dedicated Line | 13,821 | 24,219 | 11,413 | 5,127 | 7,855 | 175,775 | 110,683 | 119,404 | 115,316 | 85,356 | 28,577 |
Construction Industry Scheme Helpline | 72,500 | 31,310 | 37,289 | 39,095 | 33,566 | 29,732 | 36,743 | 49,250 | 37,574 | 19,087 | 10,167 |
Employers Helpline | 226,890 | 50,288 | 63,019 | 66,163 | 62,852 | 63,135 | 86,365 | 138,787 | 122,053 | 125,470 | 81,521 |
Online Services Helpline | 350,563 | 138,027 | 97,650 | 108,720 | 119,130 | 126,824 | 128,903 | 235,456 | 197,111 | 226,446 | 76,031 |
PAYE | 2,755,469 | 401,321 | 840,726 | 917,232 | 1,067,304 | 1,427,842 | 1,303,284 | 1,769,338 | 1,765,227 | 1,248,174 | 628,559 |
Self Assessment Helpline | 1,193,023 | 206,772 | 372,471 | 380,719 | 443,148 | 611,544 | 689,007 | 1,144,135 | 704,546 | 523,645 | 201,569 |
VAT | - | 13,143 | 43,173 | 84,539 | 72,648 | 62,494 | 127,450 | 162,969 | 150,244 | 72,014 | 36,010 |
Further telephony data is published as part of HMRC’s quarterly performance reports: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
And HMRC publishes a historical data series as part of its annual report and accounts: www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025
Data covering VOA helplines:
Financial Year | Answered | Abandoned |
2015-16 | 283711 | 49173 |
2016-17 | 327896 | 67348 |
2017-18 | 232687 | 56334 |
2018-19 | 225205 | 72898 |
2019-20 | 261216 | 97460 |
2020-21 | 106016 | 27554 |
2021-22 | 222467 | 38949 |
2022-23 | 218353 | 37896 |
2023-24 | 202043 | 52191 |
2024-25 | 201663 | 71225 |
2025-2026 (YTD) | 129319 | 19618 |