HMRC to re-evaluate the halt of child benefit payments for 23,500 people

09 November 2025 , 22:48

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HMRC to re-evaluate the halt of child benefit payments for 23,500 people

HMRC is re-evaluating decisions to remove child benefit payments from 23,500 individuals after using their travel data to determine they had left the UK.

The benefit is typically ceased if someone stays outside the UK for more than eight weeks. However, many affected individuals complained that the tax authority halted their payments after they went abroad for a holiday.

The review follows the government’s new crackdown on child benefit fraud, aimed at saving £350 million over the next five years.

This system, which was in a pilot phase, allows HMRC to use Home Office international travel data to determine if people are still residing in the UK.

However, all affected cases are now under review following an increasing number of complaints from those who briefly left the UK and returned to find their payments stopped.

Self-employed Brits have just weeks left to submit tax return or risk £100 fine

The issue was first detected in Northern Ireland after some families departed from Belfast and returned via Dublin, in the EU, before driving back over the border.

James Turner