HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has suspended its child benefit crackdown after a major data error wrongly halted payments to 23,500 families across the UK.
The suspension followed an investigation revealing that incomplete Home Office travel records had falsely flagged parents as having left the country and never returned.
The affected families included many who had simply gone on holiday or travelled for work.
In one case, a Belfast mother received a letter claiming she had travelled to Amsterdam in June 2023 and failed to return, despite her child being born in October 2024.
“Big Brother wants me to explain what I was doing before my baby even existed,” she told reporters.
HMRC apologised for the deeply distressing mistake and announced an urgent review to verify Home Office data against its own PAYE records.
The agency also confirmed it will no longer suspend any payments without first contacting recipients and allowing 30 days to confirm their eligibility.
The error first surfaced after been reported that people who left via Belfast but returned through Dublin airport were mistakenly marked as having permanently left the UK.
The issue later proved far wider, affecting families who travelled to France, Amsterdam, Australia and elsewhere.
Several parents described the ordeal as “stressful and humiliating”, including a woman asked to provide three months of 2021 bank statements to prove she lived in London after a cancelled flight.
Another mother said she felt unwelcome after being told she never returned from a trip to Poland.
Labour MP Paul Kohler has written to Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, demanding clarity on how the error occurred and assurances that Northern Ireland families will be protected from similar mistakes.
HMRC said affected claimants should call the helpline number on their letters to have payments reinstated promptly.
