Concentrix – mounting problems led to contract termination.
HMRC dropped its contract with the American-owned business services company Concentrix when a catalogue of delays, mistakes and IT failures became a clear threat to its customer service standards.
A report from the National Audit Office today details the purpose of the contract, the cost and repeated attempts to deal with difficulties (including raising payments to the contractor) and eventual decision to pull out.
The NAO says HMRC was forced to question the value of out-sourcing its interaction with customers.
It asked “whether third parties can understand the subtleties of delivering a public service” and concluded “that the risks of a third-party arrangement to customer service outweighed the benefits, notwithstanding the ‘net positive’ savings against costs”.
Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead, in common with colleagues across the CA network, have advised many clients whose incomes, low to begin with, have been reduced after flawed investigations by Concentrix.
We hope all government departments and agencies whose decisions affect millions of citizens will learn from the NAO that, though it will always have a part, outsourcing public service delivery shouldn’t be the default solution whatever the issue.