HMRC hits 10 million milestone on automation

HMRC has processed 10 million transactions using robots since 2015 which has improved efficiency and customer experience.

Jacky Wright, HMRC’s Chief Digital & Information Officer, will today announce the major milestone in HMRC’s modernisation programme at Government Computing’s GovTech2018 conference.

HMRC robots are programmed pieces of software that process items in the same way as humans would. They work repetitive jobs, freeing up staff to undertake more meaningful, complex and interesting work, the kind of work that requires decision-making and human judgement.

The 10 million milestone marks significant progress for HMRC’s award winning IT Project team as it works towards greater automation of the functions that do not require human input.

Jacky Wright, HMRC Chief Digital & Information Officer, said:

“This is a major milestone towards HMRC’s digital transformation, where we are now deploying the most advanced IT to improve the accuracy and speed of our services. HMRC aims to be the world's most digitally advanced tax authority, and by making our 10 millionth transaction by a robot, we are making great progress towards that goal.

“We have over 50 different automations working across our IT estate. By automating simple and repetitive tasks, we are able to free up our staff to undertake more meaningful and interesting work that requires decision making and human intelligence. The public is getting a better service and HMRC is doing its work more efficiently.”

For example, HMRC uses automation to process requests for Tax Rebates for customers, the robot receives the request online, processes the forms, most of them on day of receipt, and automatically sends a letter out in the post.

HMRC also uses robots to process information that customers submit online about their change in circumstances. Until recently, even though the forms were digitally available online, they still required a lot of human action to move them through the process. Now robots process the forms automatically after receiving them, ensuring customers receive a much quicker turn around on the information provided to HMRC.

Notes for Editors:

1. Jacky Wright was appointed as HMRC’s Chief Digital & Information Officer on 14 September 2017 having been a Vice President of Microsoft.

2. Jacky Wright has been nominated for the 2018 Digital Leader of the Year Category in the 5th Annual Digital Leaders 100 Award.

3. HMRC won the IT Project Team of the Year at the UK IT industry award.

4. Automation is being rolled out across government and the Cabinet Office have set up a ‘Centre of Excellence’ team, with the aim of speeding up the rollout of automation across Government using HMRC ways of working and experiences to help.   

5. Follow HMRC’s press office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice.

6. HMRC's Flickr channel: www.flickr.com/hmrcgovuk.