Some 60 per cent of parents were wrongly targeted in a HMRC child benefit fraud crackdown, the Labour Party government has admitted.
Figures revealed in a parliamentary written answer show that 15,000 of the 23,500 families targeted by the tax authority were in fact legitimate claimants entitled to receive the payments.
The scale of the blunder is four times greater than officials had previously admitted, with the errors stemming from incomplete Home Office travel records, The Guardian reports.
Dan Tomlinson, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, confirmed in his response that as of November 30, 14,994 of the 23,794 suspended cases had subsequently been verified as eligible for child benefit.
The fiasco means 63 per cent of those affected were wrongly stripped of their payments.
Conservative MP Andrew Snowden, who represents Fylde and tabled the parliamentary question that uncovered the true extent of the problem, described the revelations as alarming.
“These figures are deeply troubling,” he said. “HMRC has confirmed that nearly two-thirds of the families caught up in this exercise were fully eligible for child benefit, meaning only 4.3 per cent were found to be claiming incorrectly.”
The MP drew on his own background to highlight the human cost of the administrative failure.
“I grew up in a family that for a period of time, through no fault of our own, relied on the benefits system. So I know first-hand how distressing it will have been for those who will rely on that money to put food on the table,” he added.
The investigation uncovered numerous cases of parents penalised despite having done nothing wrong.
One woman discovered her payments had been halted after records suggested she had failed to return from a trip to Norway – a journey she never took because the wedding she planned to attend was cancelled.
Thousands lose payments after being ‘wrongly targeted’ in major crackdown, Labour admits
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GETTYAnother mother had her benefit frozen after supposedly missing a flight, when in reality she was fighting for her life in intensive care with sepsis.
A third parent saw payments stopped when her child suffered an epileptic seizure at the departure gate, preventing the family from travelling.
Perhaps most strikingly, Tina Pearson, a childminder from East Yorkshire, had her benefit suspended despite never having booked any flight abroad.
“I haven’t left the country in three years, I don’t have a passport. I’ve never been to Spain,” she said.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
HMRC has since paused new compliance inquiries based on Home Office travel data
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GETTYHMRC has since paused new compliance inquiries based on Home Office travel data, with the exchequer secretary confirming no fresh cases were opened during November as officials focused on reviewing the existing 23,500 affected accounts.
Of the 8,800 cases still under examination, just 1,019 have so far been confirmed as fraudulent. HMRC has pledged to conduct PAYE checks before suspending future accounts.
Child Benefit is claimed by more than seven million families and is paid at £26.05 a week for a first child, with £17.25 a week for each additional child.
A person can claim Child Benefit if they are responsible for a child under the age of 16, or under 20 if the child remains in approved education or training.
Parents can now claim Child Benefit online,
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GETTYIn most cases, the child must live with the claimant, or the claimant must contribute at least the equivalent of the Child Benefit amount towards the child’s care.
If the claimant or their partner has a high income, some or all of the Child Benefit may need to be repaid.
The tax authority defended its approach, with a spokesperson stating that the pilot scheme demonstrated travel data could be used effectively to identify error and fraud.
“Using travel data as a risk indicator allows us to narrow down our inquiries, meaning we contact less than two per cent of child benefit customers rather than asking all recipients to regularly reconfirm their eligibility,” the spokesperson said.