Should I have been claiming child benefit all this time?

[cantforthelifeofme]

I have a 4yo and 1yo and I've just happened across an advert saying 'if your child was born during the pandemic you could be eligible for child benefit'.

Looking into it, it seems that I could have been claiming child benefits for the last 4+ years! Neither my husband or I earn £50K.

I had heard of child benefit but assumed it was for jobless/low income etc.

No one has ever mentioned this to us :(

Can you claim retrospectively?

Yes it sounds like you are eligible. Unfortunately I don’t think it can be backdated very far so you’ve lost what you haven’t claimed so far but get a claim in asap!!!!!!

Were you and your husband born in the UK? Child benefit has been around a long time, it used to be universal so my parents and parent in law were shocked to hear we didn’t qualify. I’m surprised your parents never mentioned it (assuming you grew up here of course!) It was famously made means tested in about 2011 and not in a very fair way so is often discussed in real life and on here.

Yes you are entitled to it so full the forms out asap. I think you can only backdate a claim for a few months, but you get it until the child turns 16 I think k so it’s still worth starting now. It’s frustrating for you that you have missed out on it so far…I am surprised you weren’t aware of it. They used to put the application forms in the bounty packs!

Looks like only three months retrospectively. That is what the hmrc website says anyway.

Omg I can't believe I've lost out on all this money. Why is this not mentioned by registration office? My accountant? Or even a passing comment from a midwife when pregnant? I've been going to baby/toddler groups all this time... not a mention 😢 it would have helped us so much. Ah well at least I could claim from now on I suppose.

I wasn't born in uk but dh was. None of our parents around sadly.

You used to be given the form on discharge from hospital. Your hv should have prompted you too. Unfortunately it is only backdated three months.

Most people are handed the form in the maternity unit. Someone came around with a lot of freebie samples, instructions on registering the birth and how to claim child benefit. Did you have your baby at home?

Although my HV made sure I was claiming as well.

I got the bounty packs- many a voucher for 50p off this and that so hip hip hooray.

Form will be going in today.

This may have changed since I had mine (youngest now 6) but it was important to do the child benefit claim as it counts toward for national insurance credits, especially if you are not currently earning

We were given the children benefit forms when we left the hospital (2014 and 2019).

I don't think it's mentioned because it's normally something everyone knows about. I think it's only been mentioned to me once when my first child was born and it was when the midwife went to grab me a bounty pack for the child benefit form.

@Elbo7 so whole I was on maternity leave it would have counted towards something (what are national insurance 'credits'?). Omg I am so naive.

I always received the Child Benefit forms in the Bounty pack.

I am really surprised you missed this OP. I was told my my midwife and at the hospital. It was also in the news during the pandemic that claims were delayed due to not being able to register births for big chunks of lockdown.

I am a bit confused by the advert your saw though. Child benefit has been available for a long time, nothing to do with children born in the pandemic. Did you get the form from the official government website? I’m worried you’ve seen a scam advert.

I could be £5,000 up :(

@cantforthelifeofme - did you say you had an accountant? You need to be asking then about national insurance credits.

Anyway thank you all for replying. We obviously missed the memo.

If you've been receiving maternity pay I would think you'd be paying national insurance from your pay automatically, it's only if you stopped working or don't earn enough then you wouldn't (I think...?)

National insurance credits count towards you getting your state pension when retirement age, if you don't have enough credits you get less pension, or something like that. I'm really sorry I'm a bit hazy on the details, the money saving expert page here is a lot better at explaining it: www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/child-benefit/

Child benefit has been about for many many years and the only way it was affected during the pandemic was that it was harder to register the birth which you would normally need to do prior to making a claim.

NI credits count towards your pension. You get them when claiming child benefit up until your youngest is 12 I think.

@Mapleapple I was just scrolling Instagram and an advert was there when I was looking through my friend's stories.

If it was all over the news that CB payments were being lost during lockdown I would have just ignored it as I assumed not relevant. I do pay attention to news stories usually but when you're on your knees trying to look after small child/baby while also trying to keep up with work (I'm self employed so didn't have a long maternity leave) I find my brain filters lots of stuff out.

It doesn't matter if baby was born in the pandemic. Sounds like you are entitled to it, they backdate 3 months so quickly apply - it's not long

@trampoline123 yes it was just the advert that made me look into it. It was then that I realised I could have been claiming for my four year old all this time. Pissed off.

It's been around since 1945, and Eleanor Rathbone would be horrified at the means testing of today. She knew that wealthy husbands did not always provide for their families.
Read about it here:
www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/parliamentary-collections/eleanor-rathbone/family-allowances-act-1945/

And yes, you are naïve- you need to check everything from your income tax to your National Insurance- this stuff is your responsibility.
Hope it gets sorted soon.

Everyone should be filling out the child benefit form and it is really disappointing that none of the many healthcare professionals you encounter during pregnancy and after having children thought to check with you. You say your DH is from here, did he not know anything about it? Tbh it has never come up in conversation with any other Mums for me but something I have always known exists

Pre covid, the forms were usually given by the Bounty reps after giving birth on the ward but I had a home birth for my youngest and was given it when we went for a postnatal check in maternity unit.

Although it is not possible to reclaim the money, I imagine the NI credits can be reclaimed if you have not been working over any period since having children. If you have been working, you have been paying NI and don't need to worry about the credits