Half a million parents were left without vital child benefit payments yesterday due to a technical issue at HMRC.
The tax office said a processing error meant that around 30 per cent of recipients had not received their child benefit on Monday – equivalent to around 500,000 parents.
They will have to wait until Wednesday for the money to arrive in their accounts, HMRC has said.
Child benefit is designed to help cover the cost of raising a child and payments are usually made monthly on a Monday or Tuesday.
The payment is worth £25.60 for the first child and £16.95 for each additional child.
Half a million parents were left without vital child benefit payments yesterday due to a technical issue at HMRC (stock image)
The mishap is the latest blunder made by the tax office this year, as it has received heavy criticism in recent months from MPs over its deteriorating phone service.
In March, HMRC was forced to U-turn on its decision to close its vital tax helpline for six months of the year.
Parents took to X yesterday to voice their frustration over the missing payments.
One said: ‘In 14 years, I’ve never had a problem getting my child benefit on time.’
Another added: ‘Almost 12pm still no payment and no idea of time frame. £2.26 left in bank and 3 kids to feed.’
Parents can claim child benefit if they are responsible for bringing up a child under 16, or under 20 if they are in higher education or training.
Households where each parent earns up to £60,000 a year can claim the benefit in full.
After this point it tapers out and the benefit is withdrawn entirely once a parent earns more than £80,000.
The tax office said a processing error meant that around 30 per cent of recipients had not received their child benefit on Monday – equivalent to around 500,000 parents (stock image)
HMRC said affected customers should not call the tax office to complain and instead should do so online at gov.uk/complain-about-hmrc.
An HMRC spokesman said: ‘We are very sorry that some customers did not receive their scheduled child benefit payments as expected and we understand the concern and difficulty this may have caused. We have now fixed the problem and are putting measures in place to prevent this from happening again.
‘Anyone who has incurred a direct financial loss because of the delayed payment can apply for redress by completing our online complaints form.’
Payments scheduled for Tuesday would be made on time, it said.