HMRC adapts to COVID‑19 with support from Nuance
When the COVID‑19 pandemic forced the UK to go into a national lockdown in March 2020, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)—the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority—had to act fast to support the nation.
Description
During COVID‑19, many businesses had to cease operating and a large majority of the country had to temporarily stop working, which meant HMRC needed to offer immediate support. The Chancellor asked the department to roll out four key COVID‑19 support schemes that needed to be accessible to millions of people across the country, all with minimal wait times and disruption.
Challenge
When COVID‑19 forced the UK into national lockdown, HMRC had to launch new policies and schemes quickly to support people and businesses across the country.
Solution
HMRC used Nuance Live Assist and Nuance Virtual Assistant on its digital channels to support the quick launch of four major government schemes.
Results
Nuance’s technologies and agent capacity offered the scale and reliability needed to support millions of transactions in a short time with minimal customer disruption.
Nuance Live Assist and Virtual Assistant supported:
£46.4bn
in claims on the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme
440K
government grant applications on the first day of operation
£4.8bn
in transactions for the Self Employment Income Support scheme