Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help prevent people from fraudulently claiming child benefit.

HMRC estimated the 2023-24 Child Benefit Error and Fraud (E&F) rate to be 1.6% (£200m) of total Child Benefit expenditure.

Child Benefit has strong pre-award controls. The emphasis of HMRC’s compliance strategy remains on unreported changes in circumstance including improving detection through further data acquisition.

As part of this strategy the government announced in Autumn Statement 2024 that it is investing in 180 new counter-fraud staff to increase HMRC’s capabilities to better tackle fraud and error in Child Benefit and Tax-Free Childcare. This is expected to deliver a net saving of £355 million from 2025-26 to 2029-30.