HMRC has apologised after wrongly stopping child benefit for thousands of families, using incomplete travel data to flag them as having emigrated. The tax agency sent letters to 23,489 of the 6.9 million claimants, suspending payments while inquiries were made. Many affected families had simply returned from holiday via different routes or taken short trips abroad.
Among those affected is Cerys, a music teacher who took her three children on a one-day trip from Liverpool to Amsterdam to familiarise her autistic sons with flying. Despite returning the same day, HMRC demanded extensive proof that she had not moved abroad. She said: 'This is the one time in God knows how many years we have gone abroad... but we lost child benefit because of it.'
Other cases include a woman who went to France for five days after her husband's death, a Lithuanian man living in England for 24 years who took a five-day holiday to Italy, and a family from Hove who flew in and out of Gatwick on a trip to Australia. Simon Pilbrow from Northern Ireland had his benefit stopped after a short break to Vienna via Heathrow in 2023. He described the experience as a 'Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare'.
HMRC admitted sending letters to less than 0.5% of claimants, with payments suspended, and said it expected 'the majority had been suspended correctly'. It added that it was 'urgently reviewing the current process and actively considering options'. However, affected families expressed fury, with many facing demands for original bank statements, school letters, and GP records to prove their residency.
Matt and Judy, grandparents in Durham who are legal guardians of two autistic boys, had their benefits stopped after a trip to France last Easter. Judy, an American with indefinite leave to remain, had her passport stamped both ways, yet HMRC still suspended payments. They fear this could be a starting point for further cuts.
