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Original poster

Child benefits back pay?

28 replies

PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 22:21

I have recently been checking my income and outgoings to see where I can save money etc and I have noticed that when I started claiming child benefits for my younger child my CB for my older child stopped! I have triple checked my account and it’s definitely correct and I can see when the last payment came in.
My son was claimed by my wife.
She will obviously be speaking to the CB people to get it reinstated but can we claim for the missing payments? We didn’t change bank account and it is a joint account.
Thoughts (other than how on earth we didn’t notice! 😣)

OP posts:
Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 22:48

No one?

OP posts:
englishdictionary · 23/04/2019 22:50

You are not very clear about how many children you have in total and who is cleaning for who.

AlexaShutUp · 23/04/2019 22:58

How much have you been getting for the second child? Is it the full rate for one child or the lower rate for subsequent children?

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Benefits
Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 23:03

English I have 2 children, my wife claimed for the first and I claimed for the second.
Alexa we have 1 payment for the second only, it’s the second child payment of £54.80 per month and has my second child’s CB reference number on it.

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englishdictionary · 23/04/2019 23:04

If you are claiming separately the payments will be separate surely?

It's not very clear at all

AlexaShutUp · 23/04/2019 23:07

I think you can only claim back pay for three months normally, but I guess it would be different if it was an error on their part. However, if it was your error, I think you'll have to suck it up. Did you submit a new claim or add an additional child to your existing claim?

If you have received the higher rate for your second child as if that's the only one you were claiming for, I guess you'll only be able to claim the back pay at the lower rate. And possibly only for 3 months, unless you can demonstrate that it was due to their mistake.

gamerchick · 23/04/2019 23:08

Why are you claiming 1 kid each?

Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 23:09

English yes the payments would be separate but the payment (with associated reference) for my older child stopped just after my second child was born. But the payment for my second child is the lower ‘second child’ amount.
I am trying to make it as clear as I can.

OP posts:
Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 23:09

Gamerchick as we both gave birth

OP posts:
AlexaShutUp · 23/04/2019 23:12

Sorry, x post. If you're only getting the lower rate, then they obviously know that you're entitled to claim for an older child. Maybe ring and ask what's happened to the other payments? Don't know if they'll discuss it with you though, if it's your wife's claim. Are you certain that it isn't going into a different account?

gamerchick · 23/04/2019 23:13

You need to give them a ring tomorrow. I think it's 3 months backdated but it's been a while. I'm not sure how the rates will be worked out which might be where the problem is.

Squeegle · 23/04/2019 23:13

The child benefit people are very helpful. Have a look online. I claimed backpay using their live chat function, it got sorted very fast,

Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 23:14

Alexa that’s what my wife is doing, but it could take a couple of weeks.
I can’t deal with it as my wife is the claimant.
It has always been into our joint account, we have no reason to move it and it all ties in with when I claimed for our second child, it’s just really weird and I was hoping that someone else would have had the same problem.

OP posts:
Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 23/04/2019 23:16

Squeegle how many months backpay could you claim?

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Squeegle · 24/04/2019 08:00

I can’t remember, but I must admit I thought it was more than 3 months.

ArfArfBarf · 24/04/2019 08:04

I’m not sure the three month limit will apply to you if they have made an error (which seems most likely if your second child is getting the lower rate).

englishdictionary · 24/04/2019 08:06

This isn't about claiming backpay though. That's for new claims. It seems you have an existing claim which has been stopped. Call them and ask why.

LindsayDentonsWineBottle · 24/04/2019 08:26

If they’ve made a mistake, then they should pay back all monies owed, the 3 month rule is for new claims, they are actually really helpful on the phone, when you manage to get through the 97 automated voice recording menus!

Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 24/04/2019 09:35

Thanks for all the advice, I feel very stupid for not noticing earlier! Fingers crossed that we will get something for the months that we never received.

OP posts:
Asta19 · 24/04/2019 10:02

A few years ago now I realised I hadn’t had my CB for over a year. There was supposedly a time limit which they quoted to me and I simply argued back that if I owed them money there would be no “time limit”. If you’d been overpayed CB they’d want it all back. Not just the last 3 months, so do use that argument with them, especially if it’s their error. I successfully got all the money back that way.

tanpestryfirescreen · 24/04/2019 10:03

If they get in touch with you but cant then they do stop the payments. We had this with 1 child. They did pay up as we called as soon as we noticed after a few months.

Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 24/04/2019 10:03

Thanks Asta! That’s very encouraging and makes sense too. Fingers crossed!

OP posts:
Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 24/04/2019 10:06

Tan we did move which we wondered could cause an issue but we got around 3 payments after moving and we collected mail from our old address after we moved too. Hopefully we can get it sorted.

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NoWordForFluffy · 24/04/2019 10:17

I hope you get it back from them; it does sound like an error at their end though.

Just as an aside, it doesn't have to be the person who gives birth who gets the CB. My DH gets ours as he's the SAHP, as it gives him the NI credit for his pension.

Original poster
PeachMelba78 · 24/04/2019 10:23

Noword thanks. Yes you are right, but we saw it as a ‘maternity leave’ job hence why we did it it that way

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