Overview

• The Cabinet Office says the enlarged unit could stop payments to tens of thousands of people who are no longer eligible.
• Officials project £350 million in savings over five years as part of the government's Plan for Change.
• Investigators will match international travel records against about 200,000 Child Benefit files to identify claimants living abroad.
• A trial with 15 staff prevented roughly £17 million in incorrect payments in under a year by removing 2,600 cases.
• Eligibility generally ends after eight weeks outside the UK except in limited circumstances, and ministers acknowledge some errors are not deliberate fraud.