HMRC scheme that wrongly cut child benefits did not ‘adequately consider’ impact, report finds

HMRC has apologised and admitted that 71% of parents targeted were in fact eligible for the benefit. Photograph: Louisa Svensson/Alamy View image in fullscreen HMRC has apologised and admitted that 71% of parents targeted were in fact eligible for the benefit. Photograph: Louisa Svensson/Alamy HMRC scheme that wrongly cut child benefits did not ‘adequately consider’ impact, report finds NAO inquiry follows suspension of payments after erroneous records that claimants had emigrated An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) anti-fraud crackdown that stripped 23,000 families of their child benefit failed to “adequately consider” the policy’s impact on claimants, an official report has found. The report ’s decision to suspend payments after flight records provided . The initial introduction of the scheme was suspended at the end of last year after an expose . It included one parent who was booked to go to a wedding in Norway but the wedding was cancelled, so they didn’t travel. Another was recorded as having emigrated to Italy, but she and her family did not board the plane because a child had a seizure at the departure gate. HMRC apologised twice last year for the botched crackdown and told a House of Commons select committee that 71% of parents targeted were in fact eligible for child benefit. In an initial pilot scheme, HMRC cross-checked flight manifests given to them -as-you-earn (PAYE) data, allowing it to filter out people who were residing in the UK. But when the scheme was first launched those PAYE checks were not included. “The first rollout did not adequately consider the impact on claimants, suspending payments for more eligible claimants than it needed to, combined with more onerous requirements for many of them to prove their eligibility,” the NAO said. Its investigation also found that HMRC had removed the PAYE checks in the first rollout of the scheme because it did not have the experienced staff to do the checks and relied on inexperienced workers who were not qualified to check tax records. Parents first learned their benefits were being suspended after receiving letters demanding they answer 70 questions to prove they had not emigrated without sufficient thought. The letters were sent despite HMRC holding records of people in the UK in work and paying tax. “Some operational changes to the intervention did not adequately consider the impact on claimants,” the NAO said. skip past promotion after promotion ‘I was scared’: parents reveal stress of HMRC’s child benefit errors HMRC told the NAO that it “relied on feedback via phone calls, letters and MP representations to identify that this was causing problems for claimants” and it has subsequently reintroduced PAYE checks.