Research and analysis

Understanding why customers make avoidable calls to the tax credits helpline

Research to understand the reasons for progress chasing calls to the tax credits helpline.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 8 September 2015

Documents

Qualitative research to understand why customers make avoidable calls to the tax credits helpline

PDF, 770 KB, 37 pages

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Details

The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand the reasons why tax credits customers made a “progress chasing call” to the tax credits helpline despite receiving a digital acknowledgement of their tax credits claim or renewal.

It also explored possible improvements to the online and SMS text message acknowledgements to reduce the number of avoidable calls.

The objectives of this study were to:

• explore how customers feel about communicating with HMRC online or being contacted by SMS text message
• understand how customers respond to SMS and online acknowledgements
• explore the reasons for progress chasing calls
• highlight areas for improvement to digital services to reduce progress chasing calls

This report contains findings from 50 depth interviews with tax credits customers who had received or used digital services and made a progress chasing call to the helpline during the 2014 renewals period.

Published 8 September 2015