HMRC Child Benefit claimants may be owed back payments View 2 Images

HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC ) is reassessing its decision to halt Child Benefit payments to approximately 23,500 claimants following an anti-fraud initiative that utilised travel data to establish whether they had departed the country for good.

The nation's tax authority has issued an apology "to those whose payments have been suspended incorrectly" and confirmed that immediate steps have been implemented to revise the procedure after concerns were raised about the approach.

Through a pilot programme designed to combat fraud and mistakes within the system, the tax department announced in August that £17 million in improper payments made to thousands of people who had relocated abroad permanently was recovered ove

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