HMRC taps Capgemini, NiCE and Route 101 for AI overhaul

HM Revenue & Customs has awarded a multi-year contract to Capgemini, NiCE and Route 101 to replace its legacy contact systems with a cloud-native platform and expand AI-driven self-service using NiCE’s CXone. The programme covers consolidation of existing products and infrastructure, and aims to modernise voice and digital channels for taxpayers across the UK.

Capgemini will lead the implementation, system design, workflow integration and ongoing support for the new platform. The company will migrate existing services into a unified environment, replace ageing telephone helplines with modern contact-centre technology and integrate webchat and voice on a cloud-native stack. Capgemini will also provide continuous optimisation after the initial build.

NiCE will supply its CXone customer experience platform to handle intelligent self-service, route complex enquiries and deliver real-time AI-driven insights to contact centre operations. The platform will be used to automate routine cases and surface data to agents and managers to inform response times and case handling.

Customer experience firm Route 101 will provide professional services for the deployment and supply telephony infrastructure through communications provider Gamma. The contract includes the technical build and the ongoing services required to operate voice and digital contact channels at enterprise scale.

Rob Walker, managing director at Capgemini UK, described the deal as a continuation of the company’s long relationship with HMRC and said the programme will focus on delivering large-scale AI-powered transformation and long-term outcome-driven work for users. Darren Rushworth, president of NiCE International, noted that HMRC’s contact operations require enterprise-grade performance, security and AI-led innovation and that CXone is positioned to meet those needs.

The contract follows HMRC plans announced in 2024 to retire existing telephone helpline systems and move to a contact-centre-as-a-service platform offering voice and webchat. In May 2025 HMRC signed a separate £175 million agreement with UK AI firm Quantexa to build a data unification platform intended to support further AI adoption across the department.

HMRC serves every UK taxpayer. The partners plan a phased rollout over several years with ongoing optimisation to address demand patterns and regulatory requirements. Officials expect the new platform to provide more automated and responsive contact centre services, with performance improvements driven by live data and AI-generated insights.