Thousands of UK families are facing a race against time to prove they still live in Britain after HM Revenue and Customs suspended their child benefit payments.
The Data Dispute
HMRC has temporarily stopped payments to approximately 23,500 households after using travel data to conclude they had permanently left the country. The tax authority is now reviewing decisions to strip child benefit from these claimants following a growing number of complaints.
Under normal rules, Child Benefit typically expires after eight weeks of living outside the UK. However, many affected families claim HMRC stopped their money after they went on holiday for only short periods.
Family Experiences
Eve Craven shared her experience with BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme, revealing she received a letter about 18 months after a trip abroad stating her son's child benefit had been stopped.
"It gave me a month basically to give them all the requested information to prove that I'd come back to the UK," she explained. "It's just a very big ask for something that they've messed up on, and they should have been able to sort out themselves."
Official Response and Review
HMRC told Money Box it would be reviewing all past cases "using PAYE data and where continued UK employment is found, will be reinstating payments and making any back payments necessary."
The tax authority aims to complete its review by the end of next week. The situation has raised significant concerns among politicians and affected families alike.
Dame Meg Hillier has demanded assurances that this won't happen again, questioning whether anyone who didn't board international transport this year could be considered to have emigrated.
She also addressed concerns about potential long-term consequences, asking: "Will HMRC's assessment of emigration status affect individuals for the purposes of immigration, or non-domiciled tax status?"
