Exclusive: new anti-fraud system fails to account for fact many return to country via airport in Irish capital
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.
