HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued an apology after tens of thousands of parents had their Child Benefit payments wrongly suspended due to incomplete and inaccurate travel data. Among those affected was a woman who visited France for just five days following her husband’s death there.
Others impacted include a man who traveled on a short holiday to Italy with his son and a family who took a trip to Australia via Gatwick Airport. HMRC acknowledged the error, stating: “While this affects a very small number of Child Benefit claimants, we are very sorry to those whose payments have been suspended incorrectly. Claimants should respond promptly so we can review their cases, reinstate payments, and ensure no one is financially disadvantaged.”
In response, HMRC said it has taken swift action to amend its procedures, prioritizing checks on employment data before suspending any payments.
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Cabinet Office Minister Georgia Gould added: “From September, we’ll have 10 times as many investigators working to save hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer money.”
The government’s rule states that Child Benefit can be stopped if a claimant spends more than eight weeks outside the UK. However, the international travel data used by HMRC indicated that claimants had left the UK and not returned, often ignoring incomplete or inaccurate border information.
One couple voiced their frustration: “I can see how someone came up with the idea of checking everyone who left the country on a one-way ticket… but they didn’t verify if they came back. This is clearly a flawed, half-baked approach. Simple checks would show they are here unless on holiday.”
The issue came to light through coverage by the Guardian. One affected claimant described their experience: “I called HMRC. Normally, I’m pretty calm, but I was furious at having to prove I live in my own country. It felt like a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare. They said I couldn’t do anything. I told them I work at Tesco, a job I can’t do remotely from Austria.”