Treasury written question – answered at on 12 November 2025.
Vikki Slade
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
To ask the Chancellor of the exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of HMRC's Child Benefit verification checks on the timelines of Self Assessment tax repayments.
Dan Tomlinson
The Exchequer Secretary
Child Benefit is a non-means tested benefit payable to families as a contribution towards the cost of raising children. It is claimed through the Child Benefit service, which is separate to Self Assessment, so for the Majority of families Child Benefit checks should have no impact on the timelines of Self Assessment tax repayments.
There are no further impacts anticipated.
Yes1 person thinks so
No1 person thinks not
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The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
