Have you all been claiming child benefit for the NI credits?

I often chat to my colleagues about this and pensions etc (large organisation). It's surprising the amount of female colleagues that don't actually know they should claim cb for the NI contributions. This is despite us only receiving statutory maternity pay after 3 months company pay.

Loads of colleagues seem to think that their husbands/partners earn too much, so they won't be entitled. I don't think the information is openly available as much as it should be. In fact, I'm sure I learned about it all on here.

I have been aware of this system for a long time, despite not needing to claim personally because I am have never been a SAHP. I assumed that this was the reason why a lot of families continue to claim CB despite being over the threshold.

I'm quite surprised that you and some other posters weren't aware of it if you were hoping to get your contributions covered for the years you were at home. Did it never occur to you that you might need to claim those contributions in some way and to go looking for info?

It’s not difficult at all. It’s been a while since I did it, but I think it was just a case of signing up for child benefit then following up with a letter/email/form (can’t remember) to say you were only claiming the NI benefits. Then they send you a letter confirming this. Marginally more complicated than just claiming child benefit, but more straightforward than having to pay it back every year as you only have to do it once and there’s no working out of earnings involved.

Check for NI gaps and make voluntary payments

There was an option to buy missing years, but I think it may have closed recently.

Unless OP is 25 or under she may need more than 35 years of credits. People with a NI record prior to 2016 can need anywhere between 29 and 49 years of credits depending on their individual circumstances.

Similar situation for me (predivorce). I'm not sure how retrospective the ability to reclaim these missed NI years will be, because I could get back a couple of years too, if the backdating is limitless.

Yes!!

We stopped claiming CB about 12 years ago due to payrises on both our behalfs.

Kept my claim in for the NI contributions even though in have always worked.

Did you never wonder what NI was for in the first place? You must have been paying it before you became a SAHM.

Before you start paying for lost NI credits, you need to check your record because you need 35 years of credits from about 50 years of opportunity - I think when you're 16+ you start gaining credits even if you're not earning. Then presumably you started working at some point and gained credits due to this. Plus going forward you should get it due to earning again? So it could be that you don't need to buy any more. But if you do, you might have part years that don't cost as much to top up.

Read the information on MSE as it's all easily explained - if you feel you need to be more educated about this sort of thing, you could do a lot worse than read their weekly email, loads of things like this get covered.

Yes I knew about it. You can tick a box when applying to receive the NI credits but not the child benefit ( if you wouldn’t qualify for the payment) and then you don’t need to faff around paying it back each year.

I’d this to do with national pension contributions? If so I don’t believe the national pension will even exist when I’m old enough to receive it so I’m just not hurting my head over it.

When I started having to do tax returns and paying a portion and then all of it back, we just claimed it, but didn’t take the money. Stopped the pain in the arse self assessment effort each year.

I was a SAHM for nearly six years. DH is a higher earner, but I still got child benefit paid into my account (was my only income) and he does a self-assessment tax return and pays it back each year. Means I've had NI credits for those years, so best option for us (I think).

I have always been fully aware, it’s always been explicit in all the information I have seen. But it hasn’t been applicable to me as I have always worked, even when I was a student I earned enough to qualify. I can’t imagine being financially dependent on someone else and not fully understanding the implications-very naive.

I don't know why my post has a gif on it!!

My children are 8 and 6 and i was told about this about 5 times, by the midwife, by the health visitor etc. I didn't do it because i didn't have any missing years for NI because of how i was paid on maternity leave.

I’m always amazed that parents don’t know child benefit protects NI until 12, especially as it use to help until the child was 16!
If you do claim and don’t take the money, make sure your address is kept updated.
Martin Lewis has been talking about this for years!

Yes, I've read about it in various places so I claimed for credits. I don't even need them technically now as I get Carer's Allowance, but once it was set up it was easy to just let the child benefit credits claim run, and I never know if there could be an issue with Carer's so it's a belt and braces approach.

Yes, there was a leaflet in the Bounty pack when I had DD that explained it.

It also gets a NI number generated for your child (usually, that is. For some reason I didn't get sent one at 16 despite DM claiming CB for me, and it was a right faff to sort out)

It is interesting that people don’t know they have to do this. I got all the info when I had my children and duels claimed but didn’t take the money.

Yes I read the information and didn't take the cash but had the NI credits for the time I was aa SAHM as DH earned over the limit where he would be taxed on it if I took the cash.

I didn't know this for DS1. Fortunately I had enhanced maternity pay so only lost 6months.
Stuck in a claim and ticked no payment as soon as I realised.
It's also important as it ensures that the children automatically get an NI number.

I knew about it when my kids were small back in the 00s - I had a couple of gaps between jobs but was able to claim the NI because I claimed CB. From (hazy) memory though, I think I found out through CB.

It was always very clear in all the information I saw (children are teens now so I can’t comment on more recent information).