Reform proposes £30 tax rebate for HMRC phone delays

People who spend more than thirty minutes on hold with HM Revenue and Customs will receive a £30 credit against their tax bill under a proposal put forward by Reform UK’s housing minister, Robert Jenkinson. The plan, announced at a press conference in central London, also promises to link the remuneration of senior HMRC officials to meeting customer‑service targets, with the credit limited to two instances per taxpayer in a single tax year. Jenkinson framed the measure as a response to what he described as “offensive” treatment of working‑age taxpayers, citing a recent Public Accounts Committee report that highlighted long‑duration calls and abrupt disconnections.

The reform is presented as a direct reaction to criticism that HMRC has been encouraging callers to shift to digital channels, a claim the committee labelled as an attempt to “degrade its telephone service.” In 2024, the committee reported that nearly 44,000 callers were cut off after more than an hour on hold, eroding public confidence in the tax system. HMRC, however, disputes the severity of the issue, pointing to a reduction in average wait times to eleven minutes and an 80 percent shift of interactions to online platforms, including its app, which it says now handles the majority of routine enquiries and serves vulnerable or complex cases.

Beyond the phone‑delay credit, Jenkinson used the announcement to outline broader Reform UK ambitions, including the repeal of the United Kingdom’s GDPR‑derived privacy framework in favour of a “light‑touch” regime modelled on New Zealand law. The party argues that current data‑protection rules stifle technology firms and small businesses, while Labour has condemned the proposal as a threat to essential privacy safeguards. If Reform were to win power, the combined measures would reshape both taxpayer service standards and the regulatory environment for data protection across the UK.

⚡ Effects Interpreter