Overview
- About 23,500 letters were issued suspending payments after Home Office travel records were used to infer that parents had left the UK.
- In Northern Ireland, 78% of cases were wrongly identified, and HMRC says it will stop using journeys via Dublin as a fraud signal because of the common travel area.
- HMRC has apologised and says claimants will now have one month to respond before suspensions, with decisions cross‑checked against PAYE data and the individual.
- Officials told broadcasters they are reviewing past cases using PAYE records, aiming to complete the process next week and to reinstate payments with backdated sums where appropriate.
- The pilot is reported to have saved £17m, while MPs and peers seek the business case and data protection impact assessments as parents describe distress and heavy evidence demands.