Crackdown on child benefit claims from abroad after £17m saved

The government is preparing to tighten rules on child benefit claims in a move expected to save £350 million over the next five years. Under the new measures, claimants who remain outside the United Kingdom for more than eight weeks will generally no longer be eligible for the benefit, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

A new specialist unit will use travel data to identify when claimants have moved abroad and are therefore no longer entitled to payments. The move follows a pilot scheme which successfully prevented child benefit from being incorrectly paid to 2,600 people who had already left the UK.

In less than 12 months, a team of just 15 investigators prevented around £17 million from being wrongly paid out. From next month, the team will expand to more than 200 staff. Officials say the policy is also designed to stop people mistakenly continuing to claim benefits while spending extended periods abroad.

Child benefit is one of the UK’s most widely used welfare payments, supporting more than 6.9 million families. According to reports, ministers are now considering reviewing other benefits claimed overseas to determine whether further savings can be made.

Fraudulent benefit claims rose sharply during the pandemic, though recent years have seen some decline as government measures take effect. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, benefit fraud led to an estimated £6.5 billion in overpayments in 2024–25, representing 2.2% of total welfare expenditure. Overpayment rates are typically higher in means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit.

Currently, families may claim child benefit if their child is under 16, or under 20 if they remain in approved education or training. The weekly rate is £26.05 for the eldest child and £17.25 for each additional child. Claimants must notify HMRC if they leave the UK for more than eight weeks, as their entitlement will end unless exceptional circumstances apply. For absences linked to medical treatment or the death of a close relative, the permitted period extends to 12 weeks.

Cabinet Office Minister Georgia Gould said: “This government is making sure benefits only go to people who are genuinely eligible. From September, we will have ten times as many investigators in place, saving hundreds of millions of pounds for the taxpayer. If you’re claiming benefits you’re not entitled to, your time is up.”

The pilot scheme was carried out by the Public Sector Fraud Authority in partnership with the Home Office and HMRC. Investigators matched a random sample of 200,000 child benefit records with international travel data, using powers granted under the Digital Economy Act 2017, which allows government departments to share personal data for specific purposes.

HMRC investigators then conducted manual checks before confirming whether claimants were incorrectly receiving payments after moving abroad. According to the government, every case was reviewed by a human investigator, and families were contacted directly as part of the process.

Officials acknowledge that, given the relatively small amounts involved per household, it is unlikely that prosecutions will be pursued in most cases. Instead, efforts will focus on preventing overpayments in the first place.