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HMRC has paused a Child Benefit crackdown - after 23,500 families were caught up in data error. Mums and dads say they were treated as fraudsters because Home Office travel records failed to show their return to UK. HMRC now says it will no longer cut off parents’ child benefit payments after a clampdown on overseas fraud backfired was marred by incorrect Home Office travel data. HMRC suspended 23,500 payments in in the crackdown, with those impacted including families who had simply gone on holiday. One claimant told the Guardian newspaper: “I have one biological child. I received a letter from HMRC stating that I went to the Netherlands in June 2023 and never returned. READ MORE New 10mph speed limit in England 'for next six months' with drivers warned "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 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. A second claimant told the newspaper: “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. “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 a third. 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.”
