"The error by HM Revenue and Customs emerged 48 hours after the Guardian and the Detail reported on hundreds of families in Northern Ireland who had child benefit stopped after they returned home from holiday via Dublin airport, leaving HMRC with the impression they had taken a one-way ticket out of the country and were fraudulently collecting child benefit. It has now come to light that HMRC sent out letters questioning the residency of 23,489 of the 6.9m in receipt of child benefit across the UK."
"It does feel like you are being punished for going away, said Cerys, a music teacher. She took her three children on a one-day trip to Amsterdam from John Lennon airport in Liverpool, with the sole purpose of familiarising two of them, who have been diagnosed with autism, with flying. They left at 6am and returned that night to make sure they would make bedtime at home, to minimise anxiety."
HM Revenue and Customs sent residency-query letters to 23,489 of the 6.9 million child benefit recipients, suspending payments while inquiries continued. Several families experienced frozen benefits after short trips, bereavement travel, or routine flights, generating cases where HMRC assumed one-way departures. HMRC apologised to affected families, said fewer than 0.5% of claimants had payments suspended, and stated it expected most suspensions were correct. HMRC also announced an urgent review of the process and that it was actively considering options. Parents described the suspensions as punitive and distressing.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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