Does anybody know how far back child benefit can be backdated under extenuating circumstaces?

[mowgeli]

My son was born prematurely and I am very sick still 17 months after he was born.
I didn't even know child benefit existed and thought it was only for families who didn't work?
Now that I have applied for it I'm wondering if there is anyone who has experience of how far the office is allowed to back date under extenuating circumstances please?

You can't have only got his birth certificate. You only have 42 days to register a birth.

You are talking nonsense.

For what it's worth, I do think that more support should be given to parents of premature babies eg. extended SMP.

Apply for it now and at least you will get it backdated for 3 months.

It is important as it protects your NI contributions while you are not working.

Child benefit was in the news extensively several years ago as it was being decided whether to scrap or means test.

The decision to deny it to people earning more than 40k was also controversial, is it meant a family with one working partner earning 50k don’t qualify, but a household bringing in 70k (2 wages of 35k), did.

It was always a topic of conversation at school too as some parents gave it directly to the child in lieu of pocket money.

It’s pretty difficult not to know about it, unless you weren’t brought up in this country/have recently moved here?

Btw, there are many other things as a parent you will be expected to find out about. No one tells you to apply for school places, you need to be aware and do it yourself.

Did you not check out any info whilst pregnant? It's on all the pre birth leaflets.

@Expemsiveuniform ** you've misunderstood, I sent the birth certificate to the child benefit office a few weeks ago and it just came back in the post on Thursday. Stop trying to pick holes Jesus

www.gov.uk/child-benefit/how-to-claim

3 months backdated only.

Child Benefit in common with other benefits can only be backdated by 12 weeks. The Child Benefit Office do not take 'extenuating circumstances ' into account.
This information is readily available on the internet. The www.gov.uk site is a useful source of information.

Apologies op. My mistake. What you'd written was ambiguous.

You won't be able to get it backdated more than three months the vecuase you didn't know about child benefit.

Have you been living under a rock? Who registered your child's birth? The info about child benefit is given out then.

No, didn't check any info about it when pregnant. At 21 weeks pregnant I became extraordinary ill and ended up with a nephrostomy which is an external urine bag direct into the kidney. I was so ill with infections at the nephrostomy site and in so much pain I basically lived in hospital. As the nature of my situation was so acute I guess the midwives urologists and obstetricians didn't think child benefit was at the top of my list, which it wasn't.
But again I've not asked if I'm someone with extenuating circumstances I've just asked if anyone knows how far it can be back dated. I've been told it's three months so thank you for the information and I'll leave it at that

I promise the information on child benefit wasn't given at the registering of my sons birth. I went to the council offices part at the local library with my husband to do it when my son was just over 40 days old. They did the paperwork and then they gave us a free story book to encourage us to read to our son, but nothing about child benefit. Sorry if I've been ambiguous.

Op you need to re-evaluate the way you talk to people. Some of your replies are absolutely nasty. Remember it goes both ways, you have no idea about other people’s lives and what they have to deal with.

You didn’t know about the money in the first place so surely anything will be a bonus.

@Micah thanks for letting me know to apply for my sons place at school. That's years down the line and I hopefully won't be acutely ill.
I am pretty sure that people would say finding out about school is more obvious then child benefit.

You are correct in saying I wasn't raised in this country. I was raised in Dublin and finished high school in Switzerland in an international school. I have a British passport and was born in England however.

Why didn't your husband check if you unable to?
I'm sorry you've had a difficult time but you're not coming across well to posters who are merely stating facts.

The info is - or it was when I registered my kids births - on a stand in the waiting area at the council.

You are seriously nasty in your tone and you have a long road of being a parent and information isn't handed to you on a plate. You need to be proactive and go and find it out.

You managed to register your child with a doctor? I'm sure there's a poster about it in my gp surgery. I'm also sure it was given to me in bumph with the red book.

You have to take responsibility. It's money you didn't know you were even entitled to. It's money you didn't know existed. How about viewing it that way than getting aggressive and nasty over why you can't claim what went wrong and how no one told you?

He didn't know either. I only found out when my friend told me about it.
I was the first one to have a baby in my group of friends and they don't live in the uk. Then my friends I made here haven't mentioned it to me. I didn't ask them as I genuinely thought it was for unemployed people...

Op I don't think you've been aggressive. You came here for advice and support and some posters seem to think it's AIBU.

Unless the pp works for HMRC then what she said about extenuating circumstances is not fact, its opinion.

We're not talking about some niche or new benefit payment with very low awareness levels - until A few years ago everyone got it. I don't think it's fair to take the "nobody told me" line as it's your responsibility to find out. Or if one parent is ill, the other parent finds out.

Is there anything in the Child benefit application which even mentioned exceptional circumstances? Or does it just say "payments can be backdated for three months". Agree you have no chance of convincing the government to issue 17 months of payments to you.

I don't think you'll get it backdated further than three months (my dsis was late applying due to ill health too and they wouldn't back date). Make sure you apply for tax credits and any other benefits you may be entitled to now though.

Wish you good health for the future

I find it odd that you didn’t know about CB. I thought most people knew of its existence, it’s not like they try and hide it.

When I had our DD a few months ago, I didn’t wait for anybody to give me forms - I went online and found them myself and got them sent off once I had her birth certificate.

As others have said, the backdating period is three months and I very much doubt they will budge on that because although I understand you have been ill, the information on how to claim is very easily available.

Is your husband from here?

Child benefit exists in Ireland www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_to_families_and_children/child_benefit.html

I could perhaps understand extenuating circumstances IF you were hospitalised for the past 17 months and were physically unable to look into it but unless your husband, the child's other parent, was laid up in the bed next to you then there are no extenuating circumstances. "I didn't know" is not a worthy reason.

I don't remember anyone from the hospital or health service telling us about child benefit, we sorted it out ourselves.

I'm not pissed off about the money I was asking how far it could be back dated.
Didn't see any signs at gp, not in red book. Again registering son at gp more important than any benefits. I've got all the information I need now.
I will think about how I come across in the future but I'm not sure why I've been suggested I'm

• in the dark/ need to be proactive about my child
• have a lot to learn
• need to be nicer to people
• the information was everywhere how didn't I see it?

Well generally speaking having a urine bag age 23, on very strong medication and coming from a family of people who are employed I didn't even consider child benefit a possibility.

Yes it is a bonus, but I'm not arguing that.

It's also just tax I pay anyway....