UK's HMRC resumes child-benefit fraud checks using Home Office travel data
Child-benefit teams must stop payments when Home Office travel records show no return
Change
UK's HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has resumed automated child‑benefit suspension checks that trigger payment stoppages when Home Office travel records show outbound travel with no recorded return, a matching method that previously produced about 13,800 incorrect suspensions.
Why it matters
Suspensions will be applied based on matches to Home Office travel records even though the Home Office has failed to log some return journeys and has misrecorded departures. About 23,800 families had payments stopped in the earlier run and roughly 500 cases remain unresolved, which will be in scope of the resumed checks.
Implications
- — Child-benefit casework and payments teams at UK's HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) must activate and run the resumed automated suspension matching immediately — cases flagged by Home Office travel-data matches will have payments stopped, causing immediate payment interruption for affected households.
- — Compliance and case-resolution teams at UK's HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) must prioritise resolving the roughly 500 unresolved flagged files now — unresolved files will remain subject to suspension and risk continued payment interruption until corrected.
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Source
View on The Guardian