Devious interpretation of child benefit rules

I WISH to bring to your readers’ attention another form of child benefit fraud perpetrated not by devious parents, but by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

If a child is seriously ill in hospital for more than a month, the department deems that the child is not in the care of the parent and that the normal place of residence is the hospital - not the parental home.

On that basis, the department will seek reimbursement of any child benefit paid to the parents because, in their view, it should have been paid to the hospital.