The secret HMRC helpline which answers calls in under 4 minutes
Key Points
- A specialist HMRC helpline, Public Department 1, answered callers in an average of 3 minutes 44 seconds in 2024-25.
- The standard HMRC helpline averaged 18 minutes 38 seconds over the same year, roughly five times slower.
- PD1 serves taxpayers who need a higher level of security protection because of their identity or role.
- Most taxpayers cannot use PD1 and reach HMRC through its general helplines.
- The figures come from a written parliamentary answer published on 3 June 2026.
A specialist HM Revenue and Customs helpline answered callers in an average of 3 minutes 44 seconds during 2024-25, while the standard helpline used by most taxpayers took 18 minutes 38 seconds to reach an adviser over the same year.
The figures come from a written parliamentary answer published on Wednesday (3 June) by Dan Tomlinson, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, in response to a question from Shivani Raja, Conservative MP for Leicester East.
The faster line belongs to Public Department 1, a unit most taxpayers cannot use.
Public Department 1, known as PD1, handles the tax affairs of people whose records need a higher level of security protection because of their identity or role.
Tomlinson said these individuals have limited access to HMRC’s digital services and main helplines, which increases their need to contact the department directly. A small specialist team within PD1 runs a dedicated helpline for them.
HMRC measures waiting times using the Average Speed of Answer, the time a caller spends in the queue after finishing the automated menu and before reaching an adviser.
PD1’s average was 10 minutes 23 seconds in 2022-23, 5 minutes 29 seconds in 2023-24 and 3 minutes 44 seconds in 2024-25. So far in 2025-26, to the end of February, it stood at 6 minutes 13 seconds.
HMRC said it does not hold comparable data for 2021-22.
How the public line compares
The helpline most taxpayers use has run far slower. HMRC’s average speed of answer across its helplines was 18 minutes 38 seconds in 2024-25, according to a separate written answer.
For the first 11 months of 2023-24 the figure sat close to 23 minutes, the National Audit Office reported, up from around five minutes in 2018-19. HMRC said waiting times have since fallen, reaching 13 minutes 38 seconds between April and August 2025.
On the one fully aligned year, 2024-25, the specialist line answered callers roughly five times faster than the public one. PD1 reached an adviser in under four minutes on average. The standard helpline took nearly 19 minutes.
HMRC restricts access to PD1 to taxpayers it places in the higher security category. Most people calling about income tax, tax credits or a self assessment query reach HMRC through its general helplines on the published numbers, and their waits are counted by the same Average Speed of Answer that produced the 18 minute 38 second figure for 2024-25.
