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

Parents say they were treated as fraudsters because Home Office travel records failed to show their return to UK

The UK tax authorities have announced they will no longer cut off parents' child benefit payments after a new crackdown on overseas fraud backfired due to incomplete Home Office travel data.

The flawed data led to HMRC suspending 23,500 payments in recent weeks, including for many families who had simply gone on holiday without the Home Office recording their return.