Woman turned away from UK-Italy flight due to ill child has benefit stopped
A woman has had her child benefit stopped after booking a holiday to Italy because HMRC inferred she had emigrated – even though she and her family did not board the flight.Sally, her three children and her partner were going on holiday to Italy last July, but were refused boarding after one of the children had an epileptic seizure at the departure gate.Sixteen months later, Sally received a letter from tax authorities at HMRC telling her payments for all three children were being stopped as records showed she had taken a one-way flight from the UK to Italy in 2024.“We never even left the country,” she said, explaining how much paperwork she has had to put together to prove to the tax authorities that they had made a mistake.“On receiving the letter, I called the child benefit line and explained the situation but was told I needed to complete the form and submit evidence, which included three months of bank statements from all my accounts, letters from the NHS and school to prove we returned – when we didn’t even leave.
“We instead sent a letter from the airline stating that we did not fly, together with letters detailing the insurance claim.I called again this Monday and was told I should hear of the outcome by December.”Like thousands of others who have received these letters in the past four weeks, Sally said she could not believe that as a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen, she had been forced to prove a negative – that she was not a fraudster – simply because the Home Office did not have full records.“It is very frustrating.Surely the cost of sorting out this mess is going to far exceed the amount of benefits they suspended,” she said.
In the past few weeks, 23,500 people have received letters from HMRC as part of a crackdown on child benefit fraud launched by then Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould in August.Earlier this week, another woman told how her benefit had been stopped after she and her family had booked a flight from London to Oslo, even though she never checked in after the wedding she was going to was cancelled.Tax authorities told her their records showed she had emigrated.One woman, Alex, had her benefits cut off even though she opted out of the payments years ago.“We voluntarily opted out of receiving the child benefit payments in 2021 [due to income thresholds], yet they still threatened to stop paying them,” she said.
“This set alarm bells off for me as I thought someone could have been fraudulently claiming them on our behalf.“As many others, we too went away in April 2025.We went as a family for two weeks, returning with BA on a return ticket, encountering border control on both sides both ways and we have stamps in our passports to show this.”She has now filed a formal complaint with HMRC about its records.“I am concerned about how and where is HMRC accessing personal information about people and really shocked by the aggressive approach targeting tax-paying families,” she said.
HMRC has apologised twice this week for the errors, saying it would cross-check benefit payments with PAYE records and not suspend child benefit until it had first approached a customer to check if they were legitimate recipients.“We’re very sorry to those whose payments have been suspended incorrectly,” it said.“Anyone affected should call the dedicated number on the letter we’ve sent them so we can confirm their eligibility and reinstate payments.”“We will no longer suspend any payments until we have checked with the recipient first, giving them a month to confirm if they are still eligible.This strikes the right balance between protecting taxpayers’ money and ensuring payments are only suspended when appropriate.
”They piloted the scheme earlier this summer on 200,000 citizens and it is not clear if flags on false data were raised or whether anyone at HMRC voiced concerns about the human impact of mistakes,HMRC’s website said they estimated that they could save between £10m and £30m a year by stopping fraud by those out of the country for more than eight weeks,The crackdown was based on Home Office border data, but the experiences of some of those impacted suggest the Home Office has also used passenger bookings data from airlines without cross-checking actual flights taken,The Home Office has been approached to explain the robustness of data it passed to HMRC and what legal basis it would have if it used airline booking information,Dozens of cases shared with the Guardian show people who had flown in and out of the same airport did not have their return journey recorded at the border.
There also appeared to be issues for passengers flying out of one airport and returning through another, and those returning via Eurostar or via a ferry.In Northern Ireland, child benefits were stopped for more than 300 passengers, some of whom had exited the UK on holiday via Belfast, but returned via Dublin Airport.Asked if it collected passenger data from airlines the Home Office said it “did not typically hold advance passenger information from carriers for individuals who have booked travel but did not check in”.Some of the names have been changed to protect identities The text and caption of this article were amended on 31 October 2025.Georgia Gould was a Cabinet Office minister, not a cabinet minister, when she launched the crackdown.
If you have something to share about this story, you can contact Lisa using one of the following methods.Secure Messaging in the Guardian appThe Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs.This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu.
Select ‘Secure Messaging’.Email (not secure)If you don’t need a high level of security or confidentiality you can email lisa.ocarroll@theguardian.com.SecureDrop and other secure methodsIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.
Finally, our guide at theguardian,com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each,
From fritters to pizza, there’s more to pumpkin season than soups and carving
G’day! The last time I wrote to you was in the midst of our Australian winter, as the wind tippity-tapped tree-branch morse code on the windows and I tried to summon spring with the might of several tins of summer tomatoes and some inspiration from the Feast recipe archives.Well, allegedly, our spring has sprung, though you wouldn’t be able to tell, seeing as one of the challenges – or joys – of living in Melbourne is that this city’s concept of “seasons” is a little more fluid than most. Blustery winds have kept the trees dancing, wreaking havoc on the darling buds of May – sorry, October – and sending enthusiastically woven “cobwebs” and other Halloween paraphernalia flying.But I can guess which vegetable is going to be on your supermarket shelf, no matter which side of the international date line you are on: pumpkin! This is the time of year when European eaters are reaching for pumpkins to make soups and curries, while many across the Atlantic are mostly just carving them up. So, how to find more things to do with pumpkin than souping or sculpting? It helps to remember that pumpkin is also known as winter squash – and what’s summer squash? Courgettes or, as I say, zucchini
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for ginger biscuit s’mores | The sweet spot
What’s Bonfire Night without some toasty, gooey marshmallows? And it’s only right to have them in a s’more, the American classic that’s also now part of the festivities over on this side of the pond. Digestive biscuits are typically the go-to, but I like to add extra flavour, depth and texture by using ginger oaty biscuits instead. These are quick to put together and don’t require any chilling. Ideally, the s’mores would be made over a real fire, but a blowtorch or hot grill will do the job, too.Prep 5 min Cook 30 min Makes 9100g unsalted butter 25g honey 130g plain flour 120g caster sugar 45g oats 2 tsp ground ginger ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp salt 9 squares dark chocolate 9 marshmallows Flaky sea saltHeat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and line two oven trays with baking paper
How to turn pastry scraps into a quick and tasty caramelised onion tart – recipe | Waste not
This is my quick version of pissaladière, and it transforms a small amount of leftover pastry scraps into a spontaneous treat. Keep and combine any trimmings into a ball and re-roll as and when required. Pastry keeps well in the freezer, and by skipping two time-consuming steps in the traditional recipe – that is, making the pastry and caramelising the onions – this one comes together about an hour faster. Instead, the onions are cooked upside down, steaming and caramelising beneath a blanket of pastry with anchovies and black olives for a fast, fun twist on a French classic. And if you have less pastry, you can always halve the recipe
Australian supermarket chocolate ice-cream taste test: ‘My scorecard read simply: “I’m going to buy it”’
Sweet memory lane or boulevard of broken creams? Nicholas Jordan and friends sample 23 tubs in search of nostalgia, glee and chocolate excessIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI grew up in a house barren of treats – there was no regular supply of chocolate, snakes, sour lollies or caramels. There was one exception: ice-cream, and I was mostly free to eat it whenever I wanted. That constant, childhood joy was the start of a storied love affair. Later, when I had money to buy my lunch in high school, I would get a one-litre tub, a pair of spoons, and my friend and I would eat the entire thing and nothing else. Sometimes, if we were particularly greedy, we’d split a two-litre tub
Sweet dreams? Healthy ways to put pudding back on the menu | Kitchen aide
I eat healthily, but my meals are never really complete without pudding. Yoghurt and stewed fruit aside, do you have any suggestions for what will hit the spot without verging too far into the unhealthy? Wendy, by emailThe truth is, you can’t often have your cake and eat it – or not a big piece, anyway. “My main piece of advice, which maybe isn’t all that welcome, is to keep to small portions,” says Brian Levy, author of Good & Sweet, in which his recipes contain no added sugar. “My grandma would keep mini chocolate bars and have just one, but that’s never really worked for me.”’Tis the season for stewed fruit, but have you tried Melissa Hemsley’s banana slices sandwiched together with peanut butter, half-dipped in melted chocolate and put in the freezer? (FYI the same tactic also works like a dream with dates
José Pizarro’s recipe for pumpkin and spinach with pimenton
I grew up with the taste of pimentón de la vera, the smoky, fiery spice Spain embraced from the New World and made its own. Pimentón gives our food its soul. One of the dishes everyone loves back home is espinacas con garbanzos (spinach and chickpeas), which is it’s simple, nourishing and full of comfort. At this time of year, however, when the markets are overflowing with sweet pumpkins, I love adding them to the mix, too. Their gentle, autumnal sweetness lifts the spinach and chickpeas beautifully, and they combine to create a dish that we’ve been serving all month at my restaurant Lolo in south-east London
Victims robbed of £4bn in ‘insulting’ car loan redress scheme, say claims firms
Delivery firm DPD accused of ‘revenge’ sacking drivers who criticised pay cuts
Knee-jerk corporate responses to data leaks protect brands like Qantas — but consumers are getting screwed
Ducking annoying: why has iPhone’s autocorrect function gone haywire?
Saracens Women enjoy World Cup bounce with record crowd for derby
Coco Gauff’s serving troubles return in WTA Finals defeat against Pegula