Parents in Northern Ireland have had their child support payments stopped as part of the UK government’s crackdown on alleged benefit fraud simply because they flew into Dublin airport when returning to Northern Ireland from a holiday in England.
So far 346 families have had their benefits frozen, an investigation by NI online newspaper, the Detail, shared with the Guardian, has discovered.
The extraordinary mistake comes in the wake of a new anti-fraud system designed to track those who leave the country but do not come back after eight weeks, raising a red flag at HMRC for possible emigration.
The problem in Northern Ireland is many families routinely fly out of – and fly back to – Dublin airport, which is often cheaper and offers many more flights, leaving HMRC with the impression a passenger has not returned.
With no passport checks on the Irish border, the government has no data to show a passenger might have driven or taken a bus or train back to Northern Ireland.
Among those whose benefits were stopped were Mark Toal, an NHS nurse in Belfast, and his wife, Louise.
Along with their two children, aged 17 and 13, they travelled to and from England in 2022 via Dublin airport for a holiday. It cost £10 to get a bus to the Irish capital and flights were cheaper.
To his shock and surprise, on 10 October this year HMRC wrote to him to say his child benefit was stopped. Their decision appeared to be based on data that showed they had taken a flight from England to Dublin – a flight which was, in fact, their return journey.
HMRC letter warning parents in Belfast their child benefit would be stopped. Photograph: HMRC
“We have information which shows that you left the UK on 15 August 2022 and travelled to Ireland. This was more than eight weeks ago, and we have no record of your return,” the letter said.
Toal could not believe what he was reading. “I was on the phone to them [HMRC] for 45 minutes trying to sort this out. I did lose my temper, I was very annoyed, it boiled my blood,” he said.
After telling HMRC he had not left the country and lived in Northern Ireland, Toal expected some sympathy.
Instead he was faced with a barrage of 70 questions including a demand for boarding passes from three years ago, three months of bank statements, and letters from his children’s school and hospital records.
He was also asked if he was an adoptive or biological parent.
“I pointed out to them that I have been paying tax to the UK government for the past 30 years, and I haven’t moved address in 23 years, and been working in the same job since 2016,” said Toal.
“Every time I travel from England, Scotland or Wales through Dublin airport will I be asked for all this again? Will I have to send them a letter saying ‘please don’t stop my child benefit?’”
Maria, who asked that her real name was not used, received a similar letter from HMRC on 9 October, after she took a short holiday in Italy in May, leaving the UK from Belfast but returning to Northern Ireland via Dublin.
When Maria protested, she too was hit with long list of demands to provide proof of being a Northern Ireland resident.
“We tried to push back on having to provide all these documents, but they said this is not within our remit, you have to send the documentation because that department is very strict.
“I felt exhausted to be honest. I felt like I was literally in a Kafkaesque process.”
The HMRC move follows a government crackdown launched in August “to save £350m” on fraudulent benefit claims.
But Northern Irish MPs have accused HMRC of failing to factor in the difference with Great Britain and the fact there is an invisible border with the Republic with no passport checks, on account of the 1998 peace deal.
“A basic understanding of the north would give them pause,” said Dáire Hughes, Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh, who is representing 14 families whose benefits were frozen. “That would obviously be outside of the gaze of the Home Office.”
Hughes said the HMRC move had caused “distress” to “families who have done nothing wrong”. He called the new system “not fit for purpose”.
Claire Hanna, MP for Belfast South and Mid Down. Photograph: Lisa O’Carroll/The Guardian
South Belfast MP Claire Hanna, leader of the SDLP party, called on HMRC to reveal where they got their data and why they were using it as a basis of suspicion of fraud.
She has used Dublin airport herself to return from Westminster when there were no flights to Belfast after late evening votes.
“This is yet another policy that doesn’t seem to have considered the realities of life on the island of Ireland,” she said.
“Many families will use Dublin airport for one or more parts of their journey, indeed it is closer than Belfast international for a lot of NI residents.
“We need to have full transparency on what data HMRC are accessing so families do not face loss of this benefit or piles of unnecessary bureaucracy.”
HMRC has apologised for its error but indicated it would continue to do checks. “We’re sorry that a small number of customers in Northern Ireland have mistakenly had their child benefit payments suspended,” it said.
It added that it had “reinstated payments and closed inquires to 134 individuals”.
A further 46 families had payments reinstated while inquiries were pending, while 166 payments remained suspended with inquiries ongoing, it said.
