"Glitch in the System: Woman's Child Benefit Frozen Amidst Government Crackdown"
In a bizarre case, a UK woman has had her child benefit suspended despite never leaving the country. Lisa Morris-Almond booked a flight to Oslo but cancelled at the last minute and never checked in, yet HMRC still claimed she had emigrated.
Morris-Almond was due to attend a friend's wedding in Norway in April but the event was called off just days before her flight. She did not travel and has paid her taxes as a PAYE worker in the UK over the past 18 months. However, when her child benefit payment arrived three weeks late, she was told by HMRC that there were no records of her return from Norway.
When Morris-Almond explained the situation to HMRC, they replied that their records showed she had taken a flight to Norway and failed to return. The woman described the conversation as "ridiculous" and said she was angry at the government for allowing such a glitch in their system to occur.
This case highlights the problems caused by HMRC's crackdown on benefit fraud, which has affected over 23,500 people, including Morris-Almond. Unlike many others who were incorrectly flagged as emigrants due to flawed data, Morris-Almond never left the country and had all her tax records checked.
The Liberal Democrats have called for urgent answers on the issue and have tabled questions in parliament to establish how such a mistake occurred. The government has apologized twice for its errors and said it will be stopping the practice of suspending child benefit payments first and asking questions later. However, Morris-Almond's case raises concerns about the accuracy of HMRC's data and the impact on innocent people like her who are being unfairly targeted.
The Home Office has stated that operators of international passenger services are required by law to provide information to the authorities about each service and the people onboard for international journeys to and from the UK. However, it is unclear why HMRC chose to use Border Force data over PAYE records to assess eligibility for payments.
In a bizarre case, a UK woman has had her child benefit suspended despite never leaving the country. Lisa Morris-Almond booked a flight to Oslo but cancelled at the last minute and never checked in, yet HMRC still claimed she had emigrated.
Morris-Almond was due to attend a friend's wedding in Norway in April but the event was called off just days before her flight. She did not travel and has paid her taxes as a PAYE worker in the UK over the past 18 months. However, when her child benefit payment arrived three weeks late, she was told by HMRC that there were no records of her return from Norway.
When Morris-Almond explained the situation to HMRC, they replied that their records showed she had taken a flight to Norway and failed to return. The woman described the conversation as "ridiculous" and said she was angry at the government for allowing such a glitch in their system to occur.
This case highlights the problems caused by HMRC's crackdown on benefit fraud, which has affected over 23,500 people, including Morris-Almond. Unlike many others who were incorrectly flagged as emigrants due to flawed data, Morris-Almond never left the country and had all her tax records checked.
The Liberal Democrats have called for urgent answers on the issue and have tabled questions in parliament to establish how such a mistake occurred. The government has apologized twice for its errors and said it will be stopping the practice of suspending child benefit payments first and asking questions later. However, Morris-Almond's case raises concerns about the accuracy of HMRC's data and the impact on innocent people like her who are being unfairly targeted.
The Home Office has stated that operators of international passenger services are required by law to provide information to the authorities about each service and the people onboard for international journeys to and from the UK. However, it is unclear why HMRC chose to use Border Force data over PAYE records to assess eligibility for payments.
I mean can you believe they actually froze her child benefit because of a glitch in their system?!? 
she didn't even leave the country and has been paying taxes on time, but still HMRC had to go and mess it up for her. 23k people have been affected by this crackdown and now there's calls for answers 
. I'm all for tackling benefit fraud, but not at the expense of innocent people like Lisa who didn't do anything wrong. 
I think this is all a big mess... but at the same time, I'm kinda convinced that HMRC's system is actually just trying to weed out people who are really taking advantage of the system 
. I mean, it's not like Lisa Morris-Almond was trying to scam her child benefit or anything, she's just been unlucky with the data 
. And what if HMRC did use Border Force data because they're right and it's a more reliable source than PAYE records? 
what's going on with these new "security measures"? a woman cancels flight days before, pays taxes as a PAYE worker, and yet her child benefit gets suspended? 
she booked a flight but cancelled at the last min & never checked in yet they think she emigrated lol what if someone actually does leave the country & then gets flagged incorrectly just because of some glitch?? 
! One minute you're a law-abiding citizen paying taxes on time, next thing you know your child benefit gets frozen because of some glitch in the system 
. And what's with HMRC using Border Force data instead of PAYE records? That's just a recipe for disaster 
. I mean, if you're paying taxes on time why should that have anything to do with your child benefit? It's like they're trying to catch people out or something 
. This is just so frustrating it makes my blood boil 
.
and now she's having 2 deal w/ all these ppl thinking she's a defrauder... that's just not fair 
. i no they're tryin 2 crack down on benefit fraud but this is just a huge mistake