What was claimed
The government is introducing a new system called “enhanced customs monitoring” on 4 August. This will flag if UK residents leave the country more than three times within a 12 month period so their declared income, employment status and tax residency can be checked.
Our verdict
HMRC confirmed this isn’t true. No such system exists.
We’ve seen a number of social media posts claiming that the government is introducing a new system called “enhanced customs monitoring” on 4 August to “track UK residents who leave the country more than three times within a 12 month period” to check they are living within their means. But this isn’t true, and no such system exists.
Videos circulating online claim that on someone’s fourth trip abroad, an automatic alert will be sent to the “mobility oversight unit”, said to be a new branch under HMRC and the Home Office, which will check whether people’s “declared income, employment status and tax residency match [their] lifestyle”.
The videos claim this new system was revealed after a leaked briefing was reported by the Guardian newspaper, and is designed to help tackle benefit fraud, tax evasion and “cross border abuse of the welfare system”.
They go on to say this includes both holidays and work trips, and all modes of travel.
A spokesperson for HMRC confirmed the information is untrue and told Full Fact that “this video is disinformation, designed to cause undue alarm and fear”. They added: “Anyone wanting information on rules around taxation should go to GOV.UK or seek advice from a tax professional.”
We also contacted the Home Office about the claims, and will update this article if we hear back.
Full Fact could not find any results for “enhanced customs monitoring” or a “mobility oversight unit” on UK government websites, or on the Guardian website.
Some posts also claim, “if you claim Universal Credit or other support while frequently leaving the country your benefits could be suspended pending a full review” under the new system. Although there is no such thing as “enhanced customs monitoring”, there are some restrictions on claiming certain benefits if you travel abroad for longer than a certain period. You may lose Universal Credit if you are away for more than one month, for instance.
The first example we could find of the claim was posted on a TikTok page. The page also has another slightly different version of the claim that supposedly comes into force on 1 January 2026.
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This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because HMRC confirmed this isn’t true and there is no such “enhanced customs monitoring” system in place.
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