Parents Mistakenly Labeled as Fraudsters Due to Inaccurate Home Office Records
UK tax officials have decided to halt the discontinuation of child benefit payments for parents after a new anti-fraud initiative targeting overseas claims was hindered by unreliable travel data from the Home Office.
Recent attempts to identify fraudulent claims resulted in the suspension of 23,500 child benefit payments by HMRC, many of which affected families who were merely on vacation and whose re-entries into the UK were not recorded by the Home Office.
One of the recent errors includes the case of a woman who traveled to Amsterdam for business in June 2023, well before she was pregnant. She explained, “I have a child who was born and has lived in Belfast since October 2024, without ever leaving. Yet, I received a notification from HMRC claiming I hadn’t returned from the Netherlands since June 2023.”
She continued, expressing her frustration, “I was only away for one night for work purposes, and now I’m being questioned about my activities prior to even becoming a mother in order to receive child benefits.”
HMRC’s Response and Immediate Actions
Following multiple apologies, HMRC has paused the suspension of child benefits and is promptly initiating a cross-reference of Home Office travel data with their own employment records as part of a critical review process.
HMRC is urging recipients to contact them through a dedicated helpline starting Wednesday, promising to restore payments swiftly without requiring them to navigate an extensive questionnaire previously consisting of 73 queries.
In a recent statement, HMRC expressed regret, saying, “We deeply apologize to those affected by these incorrect suspensions. We urge anyone impacted to contact us via the dedicated number provided so we can verify their eligibility and promptly resume their payments.”
The statement further assured that no future suspensions would occur without first verifying with the recipients, providing them a four-week window to confirm their eligibility.
Emergence and Scope of the Issue
The issue first came to light following an investigation that revealed individuals traveling from Belfast to Northern Ireland via Dublin were not recorded as returning to the UK, leading to wrongful fraud accusations. However, further scrutiny showed the problem was more extensive.
HMRC acknowledged the suspension of 23,500 accounts, including those of a woman who traveled to France to retrieve her late husband’s remains, a mother who went on a day trip to Amsterdam to help her autistic children with travel exposure, and numerous families who vacationed in Europe and Australia.
One woman recounted her ordeal of a cancelled flight from Heathrow and how despite providing evidence of the cancellation and her daughter’s school attendance in London, she was asked for additional proof in the form of bank statements from 2021.
Another woman faced suspension of her payments following a vacation to Warsaw, returning through Edinburgh, with HMRC citing no records of her re-entry, thus placing the burden of proof on her. “The letter was a shock, and trying to resolve this with HMRC felt like hitting a brick wall,” explained Agnieszka, a Polish-British dual national residing in Scotland for 20 years.
Amidst these issues, Paul Kohler, the MP for Wimbledon, has reached out to the Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, expressing serious concerns about HMRC’s approach to citizens using Dublin airport. He inquired about prior discussions between the Treasury and the Northern Ireland Office before the policy’s implementation and whether there was coordination with Irish authorities to prevent such mistakes in the future.
Kohler emphasized the importance of protecting the rights and welfare of families in Northern Ireland in his communications.
Names in some instances have been altered for privacy. Affected individuals are encouraged to contact Lisa.ocarroll@theguardian.com
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