HMRC’s temporary Customer Compliance Manager Service for mid‑sized businesses

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HMRC’s temporary Customer Compliance Manager Service for mid‑sized businesses
23 October 2023

HMRC have recently been trialling a temporary Customer Compliance Manager model for mid-sized businesses. The model provides time-limited one-to-one support to mid-sized businesses going through significant growth or key life events or those which have multiple interactions with HMRC.

Following completion of an evaluation of the model earlier this year, HMRC have confirmed that they will continue with the temporary Customer Compliance Manager (tCCM) model as part of their overall compliance approach to mid-sized businesses (MSBs).

External research by Ipsos Mori, which was conducted as part of the evaluation, was published on 21 September 2023 ( see tinyurl.com/mud6svfp). The research was conducted between November 2022 and February 2023 and consisted of 27 in-depth interviews with MSBs and tax agents.

The MSB Customer Survey 2021 had highlighted that there was particular interest in improving the experiences of MSBs interacting with HMRC. For this purpose, a tCCM model was developed to support this customer group. The research assessed the impact of the model on customer experience, the model’s impact on businesses’ perceptions of HMRC, and the scope for improvement to the model. The key findings were:

  • Businesses generally had poor experiences of HMRC interaction before the tCCM model.
  • Businesses’ needs from the tCCM model varied considerably.
  • Participation in the tCCM model helped businesses manage their immediate tax issues and improved perceptions of HMRC.
  • Suggestions for improvement centred on some level of permanence for the tCCM model, or flexible access after the tCCM model.

HMRC have shared a factsheet about the tCCM model with the CIOT which contains more information about the types of businesses that may be suitable for a tCCM. The factsheet can be found on the CIOT website (see tinyurl.com/mphntew8).

A business can apply for a tCCM through the MSB Customer Support Team portal (see tinyurl.com/3deeh42m).

If you have used HMRC’s tCCM service and are willing to share your experience with us, please get in touch with us by emailing [email protected].

Margaret Curran [email protected]