We were recently part of a national survey, but no-one told us this. Our telephone calls were monitored, and it was shown that 80% of the calls that we took were dealt with by ourselves - the lowest grade Admin Assistants with no recognised training in tax related issues - without having to pass them on to a higher grade officer.

A few weeks later, when we learned the results we were also told why the survey was conducted. It was to discover if a call centre for tax problems would be viable. As we dealt with 80% of the calls, it seems it will be. This call centre will probably be placed in the wilds of Wales or somewhere north of the Ouse, thus taking part of our jobs away from us.

What the survey didn't show was the amount of experience that we all have between us - something like a collective 100 years worth. If a call centre is to be created somewhere where rent is low and unemployment is high, then how much experience are those operatives going to have when dealing with tax related issues?

And why is it, whenever I call one of those centres, I always get the person who's on their first day?

LTS