Home Office travel records used in a trial of a controversial anti-fraud crackdown under which thousands of parents lost their child benefit were so flawed that almost half of the families initially flagged as having emigrated were still living in the UK, it has emerged.
The benefit is not payable if the claimant is abroad for more than eight weeks, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The pilot scheme saved HMRC £17m but 46% of families were initially incorrectly flagged as living abroad by Home Office travel data, a margin of error far in excess of the 1% to 5% scientifically acceptable.
