CH600210 - The One to Many Approach: planning a one to many approach: is one to many the right approach?

OTM approach is an established process with activities ranging from innovative ideas to business as usual approaches. In all activities, whether these are being implemented for the first time or the third time, we need to consider if this is still the right approach.

OTM approaches take time, resource and cost money although they can sometimes be more cost efficient as we can impact wider with less resource and effort than a One to One approach. You must always consider the correct approach to take for your population and risk and what your desired outcomes are.

You will need to decide whether there are enough common characteristics within the customer group for an OTM approach to be effective.

You may want to consider developing different approaches and testing which of them work with a particular customer population; for example, using randomised control trials and using letters with different behavioural techniques within your population.

The following questions will help you consider whether an OTM approach is appropriate:

• What is the risk being tackled and how does this link to strategic steers such as SPR, Risk Treatment Plans, wider compliance strategies?
• What is the cost to the department if we do not tackle the risk, Tax Gap impact, loss to the Exchequer?
• Is there a legal requirement to undertake the approach?
• Are there any reputational impacts that need to be considered?
• How many customers are involved?
• Is additional resource required to undertake the activity and is this resource available?
• When will the activity be delivered for example, do we have a return deadline where customers need to be advised in advance?
• What behaviours are we trying to influence and what impact do we want to see?
• How will customers react when they receive an OTM communication? For example, do we need to consider providing additional support for vulnerable customers?
• Will follow up action be taken?
• What will be the impact for operational colleagues such as CSG and DM of sudden increased contact to HMRC or changes to returns as a result of your OTM approach?
• What is the most appropriate method of delivery for example digital, paper, third party etc.
• How will you monitor the ongoing effectiveness of your activity. Will your customers continue to be compliant in the future?

You should keep referring to these questions throughout your planning, as you gain more understanding of your customer population. You will need to be prepared to try something else, including no further action, if an OTM approach will not be effective. The Compliance Toolkit contains details of other approaches that you may wish to consider.