Providing service users with guidance on filling in forms often actually increases errors, HM Revenue & Customs’ customers guru has told Civil Service World.

“The best way of getting people to fill in forms correctly is to not give them any guidance, because you make less errors with no guidance,” said Jane Frost, director of HMRC’s Individuals Customer directorate.

“A lot of people we work with have low literacy and numeracy; we provide them with lots of pages that they can’t read. It just worries them, they start looking things up and making the wrong decision.”

Frost also pointed out that complaints, far from being a sign of failure that should be minimised, are “the cheapest way of finding out” how a business is operating. “A lot of complaints tell us about the nature of our interactions,” she said.

“You get complaints about tone and style which are very cheap to fix, but they tell you about how people are relating to you.” Only if more complaints are going to the ombudsman and being upheld, she added, would it be a matter of serious concern.