Overview

• The expanded unit will match Child Benefit records with international travel data to find claimants who appear to have moved abroad.
• The trial matched a random sample of 200,000 records under the Digital Economy Act, identifying 2,600 cases with just 15 investigators in under a year.
• The Cabinet Office says tens of thousands could lose payments, with every flagged case reviewed by a human investigator and families contacted directly.
• Eligibility generally ends after more than eight weeks outside the UK except in specified circumstances, and claimants must notify HMRC of extended absences.
• The crackdown sits within wider reforms including the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill and the Plan for Change, as overpayments were estimated at £9.5bn last year.