‘Set up to fail’: ATO outsourcing to private call centres focused on boosting profit not helping Australians

Consumer advocates have raised significant concerns over how the ATO’s outsourced call centre model is affecting vulnerable taxpayers. Photograph: Reza Estakhrian/Getty Images

The Australian Taxation Office has outsourced thousands of call centre roles to private operators that pay workers significantly less than public servants and use call targets that can leave vulnerable taxpayers exposed, Guardian Australia can reveal.

The call centre contracts are shared between the US private equity-owned Probe Operations, the Nasdaq-listed Concentrix Services and the British multinational Serco and are collectively worth $316.5m, according to analysis of government tenders.