Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the press release entitled Child Benefit action to save £350 million from claimants abroad, published on 22 August 2025, and to the correspondence from the Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary of the Treasury to the Chair of the Treasury Committee of 14 November 2025, if she will make a revised estimate of the potential impact of the Government’s policies on tackling benefit fraud on the cost to the public purse of child benefit.

The projected savings for the residency compliance work are a component of a wider measure announced at Autumn Budget 24 and forms part of the overall forecast for Child Benefit expenditure. The estimate of £350 million over five years for the total saving from this measure will be reviewed and updated as part of a future fiscal event in the usual way and as more data becomes available.

From the c. 23,500 cases, 5,367 enquiries remained open on 31 December 2025. HMRC expects to have concluded these by the end of February 2026.

Resources used to review cases opened between August and October 2025 are those which are already allocated to this exercise through the funding announced at Autumn Budget 2024.