AIBU to want the contact details of the child benefit head office? Long story short, I am in danger of losing my house if I can't speak to them before Friday.
I will try and be as brief as I can whilst including all of the facts:
I have 2 primary aged DCs. We currently live in temporary accommodation (2 bed house) as I had to leave the family home due to domestic abuse. Since then we have had shared contact with them, with me being the resident parent and having them 8 nights a fortnight. I was receiving child benefit for both children.
I became very unwell at the beginning of summer and DCs have been staying with their dad 5-6nights a week. Things have become more amicable between me and him, and we agreed that I would stop claiming child benefit for DS so that he could instead. We agreed that I will keep the child benefit for DD (this is advised by the benefits people as the fairest way to split it when parents share 50:50). For the 4 weeks that exH had them almost all of the time (when I was very very ill and in hospital) I gave him all of the child benefit money that I got for them.
Yesterday I got a notification from universal credit saying that they can no longer pay me the child element. Came out of the blue, so I called and asked for a reason and the person I spoke to wasn't sure either. Said she would look into it and call my back today. Late afternoon I got a notification saying they couldn't pay it because I no longer have any children living with me... They're both here right now! I have been building back up the number of nights I have them a week now I am in recovery. So I called again and they said it was because my child benefit payments had been stopped.
So then I called child benefit to try and see why they have done that. The person I spoke to again wasn't sure quite why the payments have been stopped. He could see that I have 1 child on the claim, and no action against it that he can see. Suggested that there may have been action started against the claim, if exH applied for DS's benefit the day before I took him off. But he can't do anything about getting the payments reinstated, it has to go to head office. He's fast tracked me through, but said it will probably be late on Thursday before I get a call.
The issue, due to having to declare ourselves homeless when I left the abuse, we are in temporary accommodation. The size of the property is determined by whether or not I have children living with me. This is based on the monthly statement that my local housing benefit team receive from universal credit. Mine monthly statement is due to be calculated on Friday. If I don't have the child element reinstated by then, when the housing team receives the statement (a week after) I will only be entitled to a room in a shared house as a single adult, as opposed to a 2 bedroom house that I have because I have at least one child living here.
Basically, if I can't get this sorted with child benefit before Friday then I am going to be moved back into a shared house (where my children probably won't be allowed to stay as it'll only be me registered homeless). All because I became really unwell and put the children's best interests before my own by giving them the stability of staying at Daddy's whilst mummy was poorly.