‘£90 government payslip raid’ verdict as videos spark chaos | Personal Finance | Finance

Alarming claims that millions of workers will see £90 deducted from their monthly payslips from January 2026 to help pay down the national debt have been dismissed.

Videos viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media – many styled to look like TV news bulletins – insist a new charge called the “Debt Recovery Contribution” will be automatically imposed through HMRC.

The clips claim only “pensioners, larger families and people on key benefits” would be spared. But officials say the posts are entirely false.

Full Fact, which investigated the claims, said: “There are no plans for any such policy.” The organisation added that searches of gov.uk and Hansard, the official record of Parliament, produce no reference whatsoever to a “Debt Recovery Contribution”.

Experts say the unusual cadence and tone of the supposed newsreader strongly suggest the videos were created using artificial intelligence, part of a growing wave of fabricated online content designed to stir public anxiety.

HMRC does have powers to reclaim unpaid tax in certain circumstances. Under the Direct Recovery of Debts scheme – currently operating in a limited ‘test and learn’ phase – the tax authority can recover debts over £1,000 directly from an individual’s bank account, but only if at least £5,000 is left untouched.

Crucially, this process does not involve docked wages or payslip deductions.

Separately, the new Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act gives the Department for Work and Pensions extra powers to detect benefit fraud and reclaim overpayments. Civil liberties groups and some MPs have raised concerns about this, but again the law does not permit a mandatory £90 monthly deduction from workers’ pay.

The fake videos follow a rash of recent online hoaxes, including false claims that savings over £5,000 are being seized to tackle the national debt and that households face a new £500 ‘Christmas Decorations Tax’.

Fact-checkers warn the public to be cautious about sensational claims circulating on social platforms, stressing the importance of checking whether information comes from a verifiable, trustworthy source.

Full Fact said it had rated the claim as false.