HMRC's suspension of child benefit payments 'cavalier' - MPs

The UK tax office, HMRC, faced backlash from MPs for suspending child benefit payments of thousands of claimants wrongly assumed to have left the country permanently. The payments stopped due to changes in cross-checking travel records with tax data. HMRC's CEO apologized and acknowledged the need for reinstating employment checks to avoid such errors in the future. The crackdown on child benefit fraud is expected to save £350m over five years, but MPs criticized HMRC for being "cavalier" with claimants' finances.