Hmrc

[Lolabear38]

I’m trying to make backdated voluntary contributions to cover a period of time I spent overseas to make sure I’m eligible for a state pension when the time comes. There’s an issue with some of my details which means I can’t do this online but it’s impossible to reach anyone on the phone! I’ve tried probably more than 15 times and been on hold for an hour or more only to get cut off. I’ve contacted their online support who confirm I can’t fix the issue online and that I need to… contact them on the phone. I actually can’t get through to anyone at all! Why is this service so inept?! It’s not fit for purpose at all! Does anyone have any other ideas about how I can get through to them? The fix is relatively easy (changing a name) but it won’t allow me to do it online. Once I’ve done this I can do everything else myself. I’m so frustrated and getting a bit desperate now! AIBU to be this annoyed?!

Write them a letter. Address can be found on the government website. That's what I have been doing over an annoyingly protracted length of time to sort out years that aren't full and to pay voluntary contributions. Maybe one day it'll be resolved 🙄

It’s so annoying. I had to the same thing, speak to future pensions and get the bank details to pay the missing years and it took me 7 months of on-off trying to contact them. Absolutely useless.

If might be easier to get through once today's self assessment payment deadline has passed - it's always much harder to get through to HMRC when the deadlines are looming.

Thanks for the reply, I’ll try doing this. It’s because I got married while overseas and haven’t worked since I returned, literally all I want to do is change my maiden name to my married name but because so many years have passed since I got married I don’t have any verification documents in my maiden name and therefore can’t pass the identity checker online. My husband managed to do his in around 5 minutes because as a man he didn’t have to change his name when he got married! 🤬

(I know I didn’t have to change my name either, but I did. Considering how many issues I’ve had with it I wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to bother 😖)

I’ve contacted their online support who confirm I can’t fix the issue online

How did you contact them - was it the automated chat (I think it actually says ‘You are talking to a computer’ at the top of it). Because if it is then I have used that and asked it ‘Talk to an advisor’ and an actual human being then took over the chat (had to wait five minutes or so). Once confirming my identity, I was able to get the changes made to my file on the live chat.

I second the live chat option. Very efficient.

HMRC are completely failing in most areas at the moment. They're so behind with dealing with correspondence, they've closed their self assessment phone line until September to transfer staff onto dealing with post instead of phone calls. It's a complete shambles.

I kept being cut off after being on hold for over an hour, so I wrote to them. I received a letter back relatively quickly.

But I agree, it's rubbish.

I must be in a minority but I've never had any issues with speaking to HMRC when I've needed to, even all through the time I was self-employed (including time spent abroad). I've always found them to be helpful, efficient, and usually quick to answer the phone compared to some other services such as the bank.

Could it be the time of day you're ringing them? With most call centres, there tends to be a "lunchtime rush" and another mad rush after about 4pm. 9am Monday morning is also tricky. Phoning when no one else is ringing them is a good bet.

Not the point of the thread, but you didn't have to change your name when you got married. You chose to.

That's not to say that everything else isn't annoying and yes it should be easier to sort these things out.

OK I would say write in with your marriage cert and change your name, then go in and try to update the years you missed. Divide and conquer, having said that I find calling at say 8am is often the way to get through. SO find a direct number to the area you want and call early or call around 3.30. Its times when many are busy and not able to block the lines. Its defo an art getting through.

I have been trying to call as well and get your frustrations

Did you even read the post you are referring to?

It takes ages to get through and there is a huge backlog because HMRC is chronically understaffed, customer service staff have been cut by over 20% since 2018. Add is lack of investment in streamlined systems and services and you have a total shit show.

I'll second writing to them. It usually works pretty well, although taking ages to get a response. It's a lot less stressful than either the horrors of their online system, or hanging on the phone for literally hours.

To be honest I am having the same problem with every single organisation I deal with.
I spent four hours trying to get through to Nat West last week and my issue is still not solved.
Doing everything online is fine, until something goes wrong and then you can’t actually speak to a human, or not one that has any idea what to do when the system doesn’t work.
I am thinking of putting my cash under the mattress. Everyone says it’s a bad idea but I’ve never had a fire but I have been locked out of accounts and had fraud in my accounts.

I wrote to them in February before they announced the NI backdate extension I have never had a reply. I have tried to phone them always end up on hold and being charged.
i rang them at 7.59. 30seconds and got straight through. The lines are not as busy now but recommend trying to be the first in the queue.
HMRC are usually ok but the NI backdate is on a different extension and has/is a nightmare which is why they have had to extend the deadline twice.
good luck

Staff working from home is also a massive issue - there seems no control/management anymore, so even if you do get through, it's hard to get them to concentrate as many seem to be trying to deal with children, dogs barking, doorbell ringing, etc., and then they can't get the computer to work because of poor broadband speed etc. They're a complete nightmare.

@Fairyliz

Doing everything online is fine, until something goes wrong and then you can’t actually speak to a human, or not one that has any idea what to do when the system doesn’t work.

With HMRC, I'd actually prefer more to be available to be done online. I do as much online as possible and it mostly works well. It's all the stuff that you can't do online that's the problem. They take months to answer letters (and then often do it wrong anyway).

I'm still trying to sort out a "simple" partnership SA registration from 3 years ago that they spectacularly buggered up and it's still not right - at first they didn't register it, then they triplicated it, so we got 3 different registration numbers. Then we submitted returns on one reference, and told them to cancel the other 2, but they cancelled the one we submitted under and left the other two active. A complete nightmare.

It's incompetents within HMRC that are causing the problems - if they actually did their job properly, the numbers of people calling and writing in would fall dramatically because most of the phone calls/letters will be trying to rectify problems caused by HMRC themselves or chasing up previous calls/letters that weren't answered properly (or at all).

HMRC have only themselves to blame. Well, no that's not true really. If Gordon Brown hadn't buggered it all up, they'd still have plenty of experienced tax inspectors and local tax offices and not be reliant on youngsters who've only had the most basic of training.

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale i pointed this out at the end of my op.

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale sorry not my op, but my next comment. And yes, not the point of the thread.

Thanks everyone. After trying three times today and too much time on hold than I want to think about, I actually did manage to get through to a really nice man who was able to at least change my name for me. He wasn’t able to help me with the backdated payments but it’s a start!

I do sympathize with the staff there, I highly doubt it’s anything they can control and I’m sure they get a lot of abuse from fed up callers who have been waiting a while to talk to someone.

Well done for persisting and getting the name change.
If you know which NI years you need to fill you will still need to phone HMRC to get an your 18 digit reference number to make the payment, this can’t be done online yet.
if you are not near retirement age you have until 5th April 2025 to do it and by then it will be online.
not the most exciting way to spend your day but at least it’s done.

Oops. Got feminist red mist.