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 :(

@MayFlower22 ahh. I bet a lot of people don't get the book anymore then if you have to download it.

@Needmorelego meant to tag you
www.millgatehealthcare.nhs.uk/media/content/files/Information%20leaflets%20/Birth%20to%20Five%20Book.pdf

Incorrect.

I distinctly remember being given our child benefit forms in with the bounty pack before leaving the hospital on all three occasions when I had my children.

When I registered my children I was given the forms for child benefit.

I got my claim forms in my bounty pack after I had my babies ,do the annoying bounty ladies not do their rounds any more on maternity wards?

Lucky you if you can call it peanuts 🙄

My babies are nearly 16 and 12 ,now but I absolutely got my child benefit claim forms from my bounty pack given ro me in hospital after having my boys ,I don't know wether it still happens like that but it certainly did.

roarfeckingroarr · Today 16:57
You haven't missed out on much OP, it's peanuts. You can get 3 months backdated I think.

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away you go! It’s hardly peanuts to some! Especially myself. Another clown amongst the mn world!!

Thr forms were given to me in some pack at the hospital

I have a 14 year old and have never seen that book! (I did know about child benefit though; and the hospital gave me a form and the mw and hv nudged me). DH's accountant was also very helpful about it, when dh hit the 60k threshold.

Maybe it's regional? Or maybe brand new parents don't have time to read this stuff!??!

I absolutely was given them at the hospital when I had my son! They used to give you a pack full of information.

@roarfeckingroarr It might be the difference between feeding and clothing the children. Donate yours to charity if you don't need it.

Missed out "and not feeding and clothing them".

I thought you meant the red book. My mistake.

14:27
parentlife321 · Today 14:26
everyone in the uk is allowed child benefit no matter how much you earn
Not true. If one half of the couple earn £60k pa + there is no entitlement.
Sliding scale for £60k to £50k.

you should definitely be aware of the 60k to 50k phasing however, also look up adjusted net income. If you pay in to a pension or, I think, childcare vouchers, you may still qualify. Not sure if there are any other ways to ‘avoid’ losing it based on gross income. This article might explain it better than meamp.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/28/child-benefit-pension-contributions-higher-earners

Thank you for that information, very interesting. All the more important when so many mothers are left alone "holding the baby", for whatever reason. It was a Family Allowance in my day, and I remember my mother's glee at receiving it weekly or maybe monthly. I think she probably used it for Premium Bonds for my brother and me but I do know she was very pleased to have this separate extra income just in case my father lost his job.

I was given the form as part of the postnatal Bounty pack.

The form was in both bounty packs for me 10 years apart and in two different countries of the UK. I understand you could miss it in your newborn haze but thought most ppl knew about it regardless. It's a shame but start claiming now

If you're shocked by that OP, you'd be horrified about Ireland. We get more CB - 140 euro for the first child. There's no means testing and you can get it for as many as you want. For now anyway!

Peanuts aye?

Only one person can claim for a specific child, but you could each claim for one child if you wanted AFAIK.

Page 5 of SA100 contains the section re higher income child benefit charge.

I would expect an accountant to ask whether you are in receipt of child benefit simply because until they work out your income they wont know whether the 50k clawback point has been reached.

In your case I might have expected you to have said 'whats that?' when asked and for them to explain.

Yes accountants are not benefits advisers but as a universal benefit they should be catching it in the basic data capture.

Of course its another of the professions (cf surveyors) where they avoid liability by getting you to certify the accuracy of the return before submission.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads I found the NHS book really useful. A friend gave me the What To Expect First Year book which I found too American (lots of references to monthly doctors checks) so I much preferred the NHS book. I actually kept it for years - way beyond age 5 (as it was called 'birth to five'). I got a free pregnancy one too. Maybe not all areas gave them out.

My daughter wasn't registered in my name until she was 9 months so i cludnt get it until then - they did only back date 3 months. gutting

I got the bounty pack for my first but not second.
My memory of Bounty is a woman who wanted to take my photo and then giving me a bag of advertisements, perhaps a freebie or two, while I was exhausted and trying to learn to breastfeed. I must have looked in the bag and saw it was 20p/50p vouchers and in my delirious state didn't look that hard, assuming it was just adverts. Big mistake.

So I hold my hands up in stupidity that I was unaware of something that is clearly as common knowledge as something like pensions, maternity pay...

My brief moment of sarcasm earlier has obviously left a bad taste in your mouths but tbh I'm not quite sure what was so offensive so please do educate me.

I'm not one who sits on my computer looking for what I can next claim from the taxpayer.