Child Benefit
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of data-sharing protocols between Departments following the suspension of child benefit payments by HMRC.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
HMRC uses Home Office international travel data as a starting point for identifying potential unreported absences from the UK. Undetected changes to an individual’s residency status are a leading cause of Child Benefit error and fraud.
The legal basis for disclosing information between HMRC and Home Office for the purpose of tackling fraud is Chapter 4 of the Digital Economy Act (“DEA”) 2017. The exchange of data between HMRC and the Home Office continues to work as expected and agreed.
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