HMRC told us that it does not wish to drive any viable business to the wall by pushing them to repay debt too quickly.39 Therefore, during the pandemic, it began using data it already holds on customers to inform how urgently it pursues them. Specifically, it uses data on business customers’ revenue, staffing and use of the employment support schemes, to identify how severely they have been affected by the pandemic. It categorises (or ‘segments’) each customer as experiencing a low-, medium- or high-impact from the pandemic and then uses this categorisation to inform how vigorously it pursues the customer—the frequency and tone of reminder letters it sends to them and the speed with which it escalates through its debt recovery actions (sending various letters, then telephoning the customer, before passing the case over to field collections and eventually enforcement).40 HMRC also told us that it is exploring how it can develop this approach, by looking at taxpayers’ propensity to pay, alongside their ability to pay.41