Just realised child benefit has stopped years ago! What can I do to get this paid back?

[METR0NOMY]

Two kids 19 and 16. We used to get child benefit but just realised it hasn’t been paid for ages. I know we don’t get it for the 19 year old but we should still get it for the 16 year old. I can’t even find the last time it was paid on my bank account, it could be years. Why would it have stopped?

We know from the means tested CB changes that having people opt in works better than relying on people opting out.

The reality is that there is nobody checking if 16-18 year olds are NEET so the opt in where you state where the child is studying works better for records.

Include evidence of her sister going into hospital as reason for why you missed the form. It may help.

Yes, there is a choice between staying in full time education or getting an apprentiship or a job with training. Hence why Child Benefit isn't paid automatically at this stage.

Technically they could.
They can work a minimum of 20 hours a week while in education or "training".
Most jobs involve training so it's the "loophole" as such. They can work full time if someone is happy to employ them.
In reality no one checks up on 16 year olds if they aren't at school/college.
So to digress your thread @METR0NOMY but this "they have to be at school until 18 now" that gets frequently trotted out is simply not true.

How lovely to be in a position not to miss it! I'm always very aware of when it's coming and looking out for it

I’ve had a similar thing where I didn’t notice my third child had dropped off and I don’t know why. I’ve noticed then and thought I might only get 3 months back. But I lonely guy on phone has referred it to some kind of internal appeal so I’m hopeful.

I get that I didn’t notice but bottom line is I qualify in terms of income and have paid lots and lots of tax over the years, so I wouldn’t listen to those kinds of posts here. Try and get it back.

Oh well, at least it's something to get the three months. Hope it helps, OP.

I haven't claimed it for years once I earned over the threshold. I still got a letter from the last week for DD2 (16) to say I need to let them know if she stays on in education!

There's a big enough number of 16/17 year olds that are NEET that it makes sense for the system to require the parents to opt-in or have it stopped at 16.

I agree. Anyone on a tight budget knows exactly what is going in and out of their account. I think it would be very wrong if there was unlimited backdating because someone didn’t notice. Thankfully it seems there is a limit.

You can get it backdated 3 months, though you can ask about longer. I got a carers allowance claim backdated years as it was an existing claim that had been stopped due to my wages at the time

You should be able to go back very far with your bank statements online.

We never received a form for our eldest. Our youngest is almost at the end of year 11 and we haven't received anything for him either. They were informed of our address when we moved 12 years ago so not sure why we haven't received notification.

OP thanks for your post - ds has just turned 16 and I extended the claim thanks to you.
Don't mind the judgy comments on here. If you are entitled to claim child benefit, do try to claim it back.

Just to add OP, sorry to hear about your husband's job and your sisters hospital stay 💐

Ds's school came to check what he was doing once he was 17. Somebody came to the door and after 1 year of college he preferred to work so he just told them he was in between jobs as he had just worked a short term contract at Tesco. They definitely check in this neighbourhood (east mids).

Who do you bank with?

I haven't received anything in the post about DS2 (turned 16 in March, year 11), so I just logged into my HMRC Gateway account and told them he was staying in education. It took me about 90 seconds.

Tick. Done. Back to work.

@Augustus40 yes but you don't get fined or taken to court or anything.
Literally nothing happens if they are a "neet" except for a parent losing any child related benefits.

Can I add something that I only found out once my DD was at sixth form. You can do 3 years at sixth form (either at school or college) and this is still free education with Child Benefit paid until the end of August of the 3rd year/year they became 19. In London these youngsters can still claim free bus fares.

Which kinda says that the Child Benefit isn't really needed, doesn't it?

Was that your older child starting 6th form, or younger? Because surely if it stopped 'years ago' your younger child was way under 16 at that time.

I got mine backdated. I think it was three years. They had stopped it because I hadn’t responded to a letter that I hadn’t received and they assumed I had moved abroad.

Can you start a new claim for CB when you retire?

Does eligibility just look at income from work and/or pension and ignores any savings or investments?

If your Child Benefit payments stopped years ago, you may be able to restart them and potentially receive backdated payments, depending on your circumstances.

Only in England.