The Adjudicator’s Office (AO) has said it will finally allow the public to contact it by digital methods.
Until now the AO, which looks into complaints about HM Revenue & Customs and the Valuation Office Agency, has only made it possible to make contact by post, telephone or fax.
Nicky Morgan MP, chair of Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, has said it has informed her that it will now provide email or another form of secure digital channels by the autumn at the latest.
This comes soon after she wrote to HMRC expressing the committee’s astonishment that the public could not contact the AO by email.
In its letter to Morgan, HMRC states: “Following prioritisation over the last year of EU exit preparations, and now that Office 365 has been fully rolled out within HMRC, this change is now in the IT programme for the current financial year. Work is underway to scope the requirements.”
Morgan (pictured) commented: “As the adjudicator told the committee, the lack of digital access to the AO’s service is not defendable.
“Public facing services simply have to be digitally accessible these days. Whilst it is astonishing in this day and age to say this, HMRC’s long overdue commitment to provide a digital channel for the public to contact the AO is welcome.”
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
