To put Ds's child benefit in DH's name

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

More of a WWYD than an AIBU but after the traffic!

I'm just filling out the form for child benefit for newborn ds. We already have dd whose child benefit is in my name.

Is it sensible to put ds in dh's name so that if either of us are made redundant our NI conts are protected?

Any disadvantages?

We have completely joint accounts so it doesn't make any difference from a money perspective.

It seems sensible but somehow makes me feel uncomfortable like I'm less bothered about ds or something.

We both work (although I'm currently on mat leave) but my job is probably more secure than dh's. (Although neither very secure in the modern world.)

But if either of you was made redundant and were claiming contributions-based JSA then your NI conts would be protected anyway, so not sure what the advantage would be?

That's a good point. When dh got made redundant in 2011 he got 3 months PILON (his job is such that the day he was made redundant he got escorted out of the building).

Because of this we didn't claim JSA and he got a job a couple of months later. It was only months later we realised that we'd messed up if he needed JSA in the future. Obviously we wouldn't make the same mistake twice but the CB would protect us from other idiotic cock ups that we could make without realising it.

We put DH's name down as the CB claimant because his job was more vulnerable than mine, so it seemed sensible for him to have the additional protection for his state pension (for all that it will be worth in 30 years). I honestly don't know what the position is for a second child if you want someone else to claim it - do HMRC even allow that?

DH was the claimant in our house as he doesn't wok and I do.

Not seen disadvantages

DH is a CB claimant here too as I work and he's a SAHD.

I don't see a problem with it. My DH claims for DS1 and I claim for DS2 and DS3.

My friend and her ex did this! Resulted in a lot of problems as they didn't link the 2 children up and caused massive tax credits issues when he left her too.

It's an issue if you split up.

Erm, surely the main carer gets the benefits? That's how it's meant to work. Which would be you if you're on ml and your dp is working.

You can choose whoever claims

They don't need to be the main carer - there is no requirement for that

Yes, I also know someone who did this for the reasons you mention above. DC1's CB was in her name, and DC2s was in husband's name. A few years down the line, they split up and it affected her ability to claim HB, it affected her tax credit award ... well she got nasty letter after letter because in their eyes she only had one child so she was committing benefit fraud ... it eventually got sorted with the tax credits, but was really stressful. It did mean she was ineligible for housing benefit and had other consequences too which I can't remember off the top of my head. I'd definitely not recommend it.

Also I think if you are in receipt of child benefit and give up work, somehow it continues your NI contributions counting towards your pension. Cant remember the exact details but that was the advice I was given.

I have two of the DC in my name and DH has one of them in his for the exact reason that you give. The only problem we had was when applying for a school place for DD we had a few problems as the Borough asked for a Child Benefit letter with them both on to prove the sibling connection, but we got around it (after a phone call to both the council and the tax office, we sent both current letters and the letter we received when DD was born advising that DH would be receiving the second child amount for her)

The reason that we have done it is that my DM (who worked for many many years) got a reduced pension as her Child Benefit was paid to Mr and Mrs Bosgrove (so the tax office only gave pension credits to Mr Bosgrove) and her friend who never worked but received the Child Benefit in her name got a larger pension than her.