Can you claim child benefit if you live abroad

[Hiphopfrogger]

A friend of mine lives abroad, and has done for around 15 years. She now has a DD (she came back to the UK for the birth and stayed with her parents so the DD has a UK passport ). But it seems she’s claiming child benefit. Can you do that from abroad? She’s never worked or paid tax in this country and nor has the DDs father. Is that fraud or is it ok? Googling doesn’t seem to help!

@swingofthings
If you live in Europe, until now, by showing your ehic card, you are exempt from paying and the nhs will get the money back from the country you are resident of.
That’s not true unfortunately.
If you are resident in another country your costs aren’t covered by ehic. Sometimes expats ‘get away’ with this, but often the host country won’t even triage you until you’ve cleared sufficient funds on a credit card to prove you can afford treatment. Especially if you have no local health insurance in the country in which you fall ill in.

@Thegullfromhull, I'm talking about treatment in England. Your entitlement to a ehic card is dependent on your residency, not your nationality. If you are a resident of Germany and have a ehic card from there, whether you are German, Spanish or British, you will not have to pay a penny if you need treatment whilst visiting the uk if you show your card. That is of course how it's been, who knows what it will be after 2 weeks.

Ah @swingofthings
Sorry
I misunderstood

ibanez0815

Source - me. I lived abroad and claimed child benefit from uk.

citti, thanks, that clarifies everything

I don't think so. I temporarily moved from Britain to an EU country last year and my CB was stopped as i was not considered resident in Britain at the time .

Oh I'm Not British but have lived in Britain for many years. The dc are British. I'd say she is doing something illegal

We’re UK citizens, who moved to NZ for 4 years, and when I rang CB before we left to let them know, our payment was stopped as of the date we left the UK. We’re now back in the UK but not eligible for CB anyway, as one of us earns over the threshold. I think we’re too honest, because it wouldn’t cross my mind to claim if we shouldn’t be.

Took someone to hospital this year for an NHS planned operation. They had to provide identification, proof of address, bill at the property, address of GP
So checks do occur and rightly so

ibanez0815

What else do you want to know? I've not read the full thread. I legitimately claimed. I had to have a life certificate signed off every year by the embassy to confirm I was entitled to my pension and child benefit.

But someone using their parents address would have no problem ‘proving’ that to the hospital, unfortunately.

I don't think you can now but you did used to be able to so she probably didn't know that's changed. I claimed for dd1 legitimately despite living abroad, the rules were you could claim either from the uk or the country I was living in not both. By the time dd2 arrived this had changed.

Maybe the rules have changed since I moved back in 2016 though

To add dd1's was never stopped

Also re passports both DC were born abroad and hold full British passports with no restrictions as far as I know.

But someone using their parents address would have no problem ‘proving’ that to the hospital, unfortunately.
How? They would expect a bill under their name at this address, council tax, electoral roll. Just showing your mum's name on it wouldn't be considered evidence.

Any suspicion from a healthcare worker that the person lives abroad would flag being asked for evidence of residency.

The poster above stated proof of address - a parent could easily add an adult child’s name to a bill. Council tax register would open up another can of worms but the was nothing to suggest a hospital would ask to see that.

When sorting out antenatal care for dd2 a few years back the hospital asked for proof of citizenship, adddress etc before they would accept me. So yeah checks do happen

@Hiphopfrogger youre just speculating. Either ask her yourself or just drop it. Posters here have answered your question but you come back once in a while with a silly question or statement.

Ask her or just leave it. This is now irksome and I'm hiding the thread.

Do you all not know that we pay CB etc to European citizens living at home, with one Parent working in the UK?

This is no longer the case. As both dc were born abroad when I did move back I had to go to great lengths to prove dc actually now lived in the uk when I applied for dd2's CB. Neither were in education so it left a GP letter to say he treats them but the receptionist was impenetrable and insisted they don't do that. It prevented me applying for other benefits as being in receipt of CB was necessary and left me penniless all over Xmas as everything then closed down

She's a disgrace, and is stealing from the UK by committing fraud.

You dont sound as if you like your friend much OP.
There are many people who live abroad that purposely spend just enough time back in UK to retain certain benefits. That's quite a normal thing to do.
As for morally bankrupt. Wtf? Its about £13 a week. Why are you stressing?

@fruitinaheapisnotabirthdaycake Silly question or statement?! That’s rude. If you read the thread you’ll find my question hasn’t been answered for certain - there’s a lot of disagreement about what’s allowed.

Council tax register would open up another can of worms but the was nothing to suggest a hospital would ask to see that.
They do.

Wouldn't her foreign bank account details flag a potential fraud being named as the payment account?
No ideas and I can't say I could ever imagine being this invested in other people's financial set ups let alone those of friends.
Can't believe you're sat on google and on here asking so you can land her in it, you sad, sad woman. Let her know you disprove of her please so she can cut you off. Why pretend to be a friend?