HMRC chaos as woman loses benefits after missed flight

A furious mother has condemned "ludicurous" HMRC after her child benefit was stopped as she missed a flight. Lisa Morris-Almond has been left to "sort out the mess" of the government after she booked a flight from London to Oslo but never checked in or travelled. However, HMRC said their record showed she had emigrated to Norway. Ms Morris-Almond is one of thousands of Brits who had their child benefit payments halted due to a faulty fraud crackdown.

The mother was due to fly to Oslo for a wedding in 2024 for a wedding, but her friend called it off before she travelled so did not check in or travel on the British Airways flight. However, three weeks ago she noticed she had not received her child benefit, so she contacted the government help line where she was instructed to contact her bank.

After speaking with her bank, and finding out there was no error there, HMRC informed her that their records show she had flown to Norway and there was "no record of her return".

Ms Morris-Almond explained to the authorities that she was supposed to have gone to the wedding, but didn't. She claimed the call handler "didn't even hear what [she] said" and simply responded to her by saying "the records show you didn't come back".

"They just said they would send me a new letter and I could respond to that," Ms Morris-Almond told The Guardian.

"This is just so ludicrous. I'm angry for everybody who has to go through this ridiculous state of affairs just because it's some sort of glitch in the government system that means they are unable to record who has left and who has returned to the country.

"Why is it that we have to sort out their mess?"

Ms Morris-Almond case is not isolated. 23,500 Brits have had their child benefit payments stopped by HMRC this month as part of the government's crackdown on benefit fraud.

However, unlike others, the mother did not travel to an airport or speak with border control.

The Home Office previously said that operators of international passenger services were "required by law to provide information to the Home Office about each service and the people onboard for international journeys to and from the UK".

HMRC has since apologised twice for its mistakes and said it would be halting the suspension of child benefit, and that payments have been reinstated for those who erroneously had theirs stopped.