Call for inquiry after families stripped of child benefit due to flawed travel data

HMRC had suspended child benefit of 23,500 families based on erroneous Home Office data, which recorded flights out but not back to the UK. Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

Calls are being made for an urgent independent inquiry after thousands of families were stripped of child benefit due to flawed Home Office travel data that claimed to show parents going on holidays and not returning.

Andrew Snowden, the Conservative MP for Fylde and the party’s assistant whip, said the government “must take immediate and transparent action” to address the failures of the anti-fraud benefits crackdown.