Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of paying benefits to working parents whose children are living abroad in each of the last three years.

HMRC does not collect data on the entire benefits system. However, for Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit paid, which amounted to £11.7 billion and £20.9 billion in 2017-18 respectively, it is estimated that £35 million was paid for children resident in another EEA country. This consists of £20 million of Child Benefit and £15 million of Child Tax Credit.