Thousands of families have been stripped of vital child benefit payments after being incorrectly targeted by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in a major fraud crackdown, the government has admitted.
Scale of the wrongful suspensions
Official figures, disclosed in a parliamentary written answer, show the staggering extent of the error. Out of 23,794 families whose child benefit payments were suspended by the tax authority, 14,994 were later verified as fully eligible claimants. This means that 63 per cent of those caught up in the exercise had their payments wrongly stopped.
The data, current as of November 30, was confirmed by Dan Tomlinson, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. The Labour Party government's admission reveals a system that incorrectly targeted the majority of families it investigated, with only a small fraction found to be claiming incorrectly.
Political outrage and personal distress
The revelations were brought to light by Conservative MP for Fylde, Andrew Snowden, who tabled the parliamentary question. He described the statistics as "deeply troubling" and alarming.
"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," Snowden stated. He shared a personal connection to the issue, saying, "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 rely on that money to put food on the table."
The human impact is illustrated by cases like that of Tina Pearson, a childminder from East Yorkshire. Her benefit was suspended despite her never having booked a flight abroad. "I haven't left the country in three years, I don't have a passport. I've never been to Spain," she explained, highlighting the apparent flaws in HMRC's targeting criteria.
HMRC response and process changes
Following the outcry, HMRC has issued an apology and pledged to change its procedures. A spokesperson for the department said: “We’re very sorry to those whose payments have been suspended incorrectly. We have taken immediate action to update the process, giving customers one month to respond before payments are suspended.”
Despite the high error rate, HMRC maintained its commitment to protecting public funds, stating, "We remain confident that the majority of suspensions are accurate." This claim appears at odds with the published figures from within the government itself, which show most suspensions within this crackdown were mistaken.
The incident raises serious questions about the efficiency and fairness of compliance operations within the benefits system, and the distress caused to thousands of families who depend on this financial support.
