NI parents caught in UK crackdown lose child benefit after travelling via Dublin

"Parents in Northern Ireland have had their child support payments stopped as part of the UK government's crackdown on alleged benefit fraud simply because they returned from a holiday via Dublin airport. So far 346 families have had their benefits frozen, an investigation by NI online newspaper, the Detail, shared with the Guardian, has discovered."

"The extraordinary mistake comes in the wake of a new anti-fraud system designed to track those who leave the country but do not come back after eight weeks, raising a red flag at HMRC for possible emigration. The problem in Northern Ireland is many families routinely fly out of Belfast but return via Dublin, which is often cheaper and offers many more flights, leaving HMRC with the impression a passenger has not returned."

"Among those whose benefits were stopped were Mark Toal, an NHS nurse in Belfast, and his wife, Louise. Along with their two children, aged 17 and 13, they travelled to England in 2022 via Dublin airport for a holiday. It cost 10 to get a bus to the Irish capital and flights were cheaper. To his shock and surprise, on 10 October this year HMRC wrote to him to say his child benefit was stopped."

HMRC's anti-fraud system flags people who leave the UK and do not return within eight weeks, triggering benefit suspensions for suspected emigration. Many Northern Ireland families fly from Belfast but return via Dublin, creating no UK re-entry data and producing false red flags. As a result, 346 families had child benefit payments frozen. Affected parents received letters stating there was no record of return and had to contact HMRC to correct records. Travel via Dublin is often cheaper and lacks passport checks at the Irish border, preventing verification of return by road, rail or ferry.

Read at www.theguardian.com