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A number of families in Northern Ireland have had their Child Benefit payments wrongly suspended as part of a fraud and error crackdown by HMRC . The department has admitted the error and said payments will be reinstated. HMRC recently launched a UK-wide operation to identify people continuing to claim Child Benefit after leaving the country. The initiative follows a pilot which stopped around £17 million in wrongful payments and has now been expanded, with a new specialist team expected to prevent more than £350 million in fraud and error over the next five years. As part of this work, 346 Northern Ireland claimants were sent enquiry letters to verify their residency status. Of these, payments have been reinstated for 134 people after checks confirmed they were still living and working in the UK. HMRC has said that some customers had their claims suspended in error, particularly those who regularly travel to or from the Republic of Ireland . In a statement to Belfast Live , an HMRC spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry that a small number of customers in Northern Ireland have mistakenly had their Child Benefit payments suspended. “We’re working at pace to contact them so their claims can be reinstated and they are not left out of pocket.” The department added that it is introducing an upfront check to identify Northern Ireland customers whose travel was to the Republic of Ireland, so payments are not automatically suspended while residency is confirmed. In the meantime, payments will be reinstated in 46 cases while they are currently undergoing these checks. Sinn Féin MP Dáire Hughes has welcomed confirmation that the majority of the Child Benefit payments that had been stopped in error by HMRC have now been reinstated. The Newry and Armagh MP said: “I welcome confirmation that most of the Child Benefit payments stopped in error have now been reinstated. The families affected have done nothing wrong. “It is vital that all outstanding Child Benefit payments are reinstated to the families affected, particularly given the cost-of-living crisis. "These incidents highlight the failure of policymakers in Britain to understand the practical realities for people here in the North, whereby many people use ports/airports in the south for travel overseas. “HMRC must ensure this never happens again and that people continue to receive the support they are entitled.” HMRC said the process would be kept “under constant review” to ensure that only appropriate suspensions take place, and urged anyone who believes their payments were wrongly stopped to get in touch. For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our politics newsletter here.
