The UK tax authorities have announced they will no longer cut off parents’ child benefit payments after a new crackdown on overseas fraud backfired due to incomplete Home Office travel data.
The flawed data led to HMRC suspending 23,500 payments in recent weeks, including for many families who had simply gone on holiday without the Home Office recording their return.
New mistaken suspensions reported in the last 24 hours included that of a woman who travelled to Amsterdam for work in June 2023 – long before she became a mother.
She said: “I have one biological child. I received a letter from HMRC stating that I went to the Netherlands in June 2023 and never returned. My baby was conceived in January 2024, born in Belfast in October 2024, and has never left Belfast.
“I had travelled … for one night for work and now Big Brother wants me to explain what I was doing before the baby even existed to claim child benefits.”
HMRC has now issued a second apology in as many days, paused the suspension of child benefit and said it will start cross-checking Home Office data with its own PAYE records as part of an “urgent” review.
It is also instructing taxpayers to ring the number on the letter they have received, saying a “dedicated” team from Wednesday will aim to reinstate payments as soon as possible without requiring customers to first answer 73 questions.
HMRC said in a statement: “We’re very sorry to those whose payments have been suspended incorrectly. Anyone affected should call the dedicated number on the letter we’ve sent them so we can confirm their eligibility and reinstate payments.
“We will no longer suspend any payments until we have checked with the recipient first, giving them a month to confirm if they are still eligible,” it added.
The debacle first emerged three days ago after an investigation by the Guardian and the Detail found that people who had left via Belfast but returned to Northern Ireland via Dublin airport were recorded as having made one-way flights out of the UK and flagged as potential fraudsters.
But it then emerged that the issue was far wider. HMRC admitted 23,500 accounts had been suspended, including that of a woman who had travelled to France to pick up her late husband’s body, a woman who went on a day trip to Amsterdam to familiarise her autistic children with travel, and multiple accounts of taxpayers who had taken holidays in Europe and Australia.
One woman said she had checked in for a flight from Heathrow for a short break, but the flight was cancelled and she returned home. Even when she protested her innocence to HMRC, she said she was not believed.
“I provided evidence that my flight had been cancelled, also evidence of my teenage daughter being at school in London as she has been since reception. I received a second letter requesting further information – for three months of bank statements from 2021 to show evidence that I was living in London at that time,” she said.
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Another woman had her payments stopped after taking a week’s holiday in 2023. She flew to Warsaw and returned via Edinburgh airport, but the Home Office had no record of her return, HMRC told her, leaving the onus on her to prove otherwise.
“The letter came as a huge shock for me and I have found the whole experience very stressful and upsetting. I have tried to speak to HMRC but it is like hitting a wall,” said Agnieszka, a Polish-British dual national who works in financial services.
She added: “I have been living in Scotland for 20 years, paying my taxes regularly and this is the place where I belong and call this place my home. The letter makes me feel sad, unwelcome and I feel like a victim of discrimination.”
Paul Kohler, the MP for Wimbledon, has also written to the Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, to raise “deep concern” about HMRC’s approach to citizens who use Dublin airport.
He has asked what discussions the Treasury had with the Northern Ireland Office before launching the policy and whether the UK Border Force has liaised with Irish authorities to prevent similar errors recurring.
Kohler said he was seeking assurances that “the rights and welfare of Northern Ireland families will be fully protected”.
Some names have been changed to protect identities. If you are affected, contact Lisa.ocarroll@theguardian.com
