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Written question asked by Bridget Phillipson (Labour) on Monday, 29 November 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 1 December 2021. It was answered by Lucy Frazer (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 December 2021 on behalf of the Treasury.

Self-assessment

Question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the value for money achieved from advertising spend on HM Revenue and Customs' campaigns to ensure timely submission of self assessment forms from individual taxpayers.

Answer

All Government campaigns are subject to rigorous planning and approvals processes, including peer review through the Government Communications Service. Advertising forms only a part of any campaign. They are bolstered with no and low-cost activity wherever possible.

HMRC fully evaluates its advertising campaigns to establish value for money for the UK taxpayer; this includes identifying the effectiveness of each channel as well as assessing the quality of the media bought. It also identifies learnings from each campaign that can be applied to future activity.

In the last three years, HMRC has done additional research into its major campaigns to identify a return on marketing investment. The figures for the Self-Assessment advertising campaign are below:

2020 – 21

14.1: 1 *

2019 – 20

16.8: 1

2018 – 19

9.91:1

*for every £1 spent on advertising, HMRC saves £14.10 in administration costs

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
83344
Session
2021-22
Subjects
Cost effectiveness Advertising Expenditure Self-assessment Revenue and Customs
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk