Locked out of my Gateway account due to technical error

For many years my Gateway account worked just fine, until one day it locked me out saying that there was, "no record of a user with these details". Having got to the bottom of the issue, it turns out that my D.O.B. HMRC has on file is not the same as the one I have always used, which also happens to be the one I was born with. I sent a letter to HMRC with the email transcript they sent of the cause of the issue, together with a certified copy of my birth certificate as requested. I received it back several weeks later, with a note letting me know that my enquiry was being dealt with. That was around a month ago. Can HMRC tell me how long it will take to resolve? Thank you

Hi,

If the correction to your date of birth is still not present on your record, you will need to contact our Income Tax team to pursue.

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you.

I have yet to receive a reply regarding this tehnical issue. I called HMRC a month ago, and the agent said he would send a reminder to those responsible, as my enquiry was, 'out of time'. I took that to mean it should have been resolved by now. I did phone HMRC again last week, to be told that I should, ideally, resend all my information by post again! HMRC does not seem to realise that the nature of this issue means I am essentially 'shut out' from communicating with them, save for writing. Well, I did write, and I provided all that was asked of me, yet almost 4 months on, there has been no communication and nothing has been resolved. The original email from HMRC's technical team regarding this issue has a reference number, and a note to say: "If you would like an update on the progress, please contact Taxes Helpline." This is also the reply given in the previous post above. However, this is simply not possible, given my recent experience, as the final security question over the phone is, 'date of birth' which has somehow modified itself on HMRC's records without my intervention, leading to a 'dead end' phone call whereby I'm told, "sorry, but because you've failed the security questions, I can't access your records". So to be clear, nobody on the phone can help me, let alone update my case, for which I have a reference number. Can anyone shed light on why this issue should still be ongoing, when HMRC have already acknowledged receipt of the birth certificate they asked me to send them?

Hi John,
We are sorry you have been having problems discussing your record, but, the security is in place to protect your records.
If there is an issue with your date of birth and you have sent evidence of the correct date of birth this will be updated.
In this case we would need to access your record to review.
If you have submitted a letter this will be reviewed and replied to.
You can also try contacting HMRC again in case your record has now been updated:
Income Tax: general enquiries
Thank you. 

Another month has passed, my issue has still not been resolved and my posts are starting to look like diary entries! I've been assured that it will be dealt with, because I have submitted everything required of me. The previous Admin responder perhaps doesn't seem to understand that I can't communicate with HMRC by phone, because I cannot pass security, so phoning for any reason whatsoever is a wate of time. I assumed this forum was somewhere to raise issues in the hope that, and in certain cases, somebody at the other end could step in and escalate an issue . Instead I feel as if those responding have nothing more than a 'sympathetic ear'. Not having access to my Gateway account is a huge concern for me. Can nobody at HMRC contact me by email to update me? It's now been 4 months since HMRC acknowledged receipt of my proof of identity.

Hi,
Apologies if you are having issues accessing your online account. We do not have access to your records on this forum.
For assistance you would need to contact the online helpdesk.
Technical support with HMRC online services
Thank you.

Hi, Thanks for the link. I used the webchat, which I always thought was just a bot, but if you ask twice to speak to an adviser, you get through to a real person. Good to know. Apparently, a caseworker is due to look at my issue tomorrow. Let's see.

The chat service is definately the best way forward in my case, but I think that the previous adviser was just trying to give me hope. Another month has passed, and the agent I dealt with today has informed me that HMRC are only just now reviewing cases from November 2023. Regardless, this was the most helpful chat session to date, as they were able to confirm receipt of my documents. So now I just have to wait.