Parents caught up in HMRC's anti-fraud efforts have described the distress caused by incorrect demands to repay thousands of pounds in child benefit. The tax authority has admitted mistakes after receiving incorrect data from the Home Office, but those affected say the process has been traumatic.
Tetiana, who fled the war in Ukraine in 2022 and cares for her paraplegic brother, was told she owed £3,706.35 because she had 'moved to Ukraine permanently'. The claim was based on a flight she took in 2020 for a work training trip. When she called HMRC, an official said: 'Oh' after she pointed out she wasn't even pregnant then.
Vincent received a letter stopping her child benefit despite having already cancelled it. The letter cited a flight to Portugal that she never took due to a serious illness that led to an eight-week hospital stay. She described the demand for proof as 'absurd', saying: 'It's like saying I'm the tooth fairy and I have to prove that I'm not.'
Paine, a university lecturer, was given one month to prove she had not left the UK in March 2024, even though she never took the flight to Mexico. She was forced to submit bank statements and medical records, which she felt was a breach of privacy. When she questioned how HMRC had information on a flight she did not take, she was told: 'Oh, we don't have that information.'
The government has apologised for the false debt claims, but for many families, the stress has already taken its toll. 'I was scared I wouldn't be able to provide the evidence they wanted,' said Tetiana. 'We have suffered so much stress already because of this war.'
