HMRC pauses child benefit crackdown after 23,500 families caught up in data error

The GuardianWednesday, October 29, 2025 at 7:00:36 AM
HMRC pauses child benefit crackdown after 23,500 families caught up in data error
The UK tax authorities, HMRC, have paused their crackdown on child benefit payments after a significant data error affected 23,500 families. Many parents were wrongly treated as fraudsters due to incomplete travel records from the Home Office, which failed to document their return to the UK after holidays. This situation highlights the challenges of relying on flawed data and the impact it can have on innocent families, raising concerns about the fairness of the system.
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