Child benefit and pension credits

[DarthMother]

Looking for some clarification from people who will undoubtedly know more than me about this. I received an information email today with some tips about money matters, one of which was the following -
"Claim your Child Benefit as soon as your child is born, even if you don’t think you’re entitled to anything. By claiming Child Benefit, you can get credits towards your State Pension if you’re not making national insurance contributions, because you’re looking after your child."
Can anyone tell me if this is automatic or if something needs to be done in order to receive the credits? Thanks.

I claim child benefit and the pension credit was automatic, you can check national insurance contributions on hmrc gateway so you can see if there are any gaps and how much you need to pay to fill them. Should get pension credit until the child is 12.

I claim child benefit and the pension credit was automatic, you can check national insurance contributions on hmrc gateway so you can see if there are any gaps and how much you need to pay to fill them. Should get pension credit until the child is 12.

That's great, thank you. Sorry, thought I'd answered before!