Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 103948 on Child Benefit: Fraud, if she will make an estimate of the cost to her Department of time spent reviewing old cases.

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.