Child Benefit: Maladministration
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what date (i) HMRC and (ii) ministers in her Department were notified of child benefit claimants incorrectly having benefits stopped due to data sharing with the Home Office.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
HMRC use international travel data and other checks to help tackle Child Benefit error and fraud, which is expected to save around £350 million over the next five years.
As HMRC scaled up the work through September and into October 2025, it came to HMRC’s attention in mid-October that the removal of the PAYE check had resulted in some customers being incorrectly included in the compliance campaign. HMRC took swift action to reinstate the PAYE check and apply it retrospectively, including no longer suspending payments at the outset of their enquiries. After understanding the issues, HMRC notified Treasury ministers in late October and have kept them fully informed throughout since.
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