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?

As far as I know child benefit can only be back dated 3 months.

You will get it in full unless one parent earns at least £50,000 in which case it is withdrawn on a sliding scale to nil when one parent earns £60,000.

@AfunaMbatata sorry to hear about your sister. It's a shame she missed out.
@Parker231 yes me neither.

He is from here and I can guarantee we didn't know about it and I did not discuss it with my friends until last month when I was chatting to a friend up north.

I'll look into tax credits but not sure if I'm eligible.

Thanks for the imput, I'm off to hang out with my son now that he is awake

Crikey, you're really snippy OP!

Sorry,you've been so ill. Apply asap and you'll get it back dated for 3 months.

The having a urine bag and on medication is awful - but loads of us have had health issues.

You have a husband who could have found out and claimed. Some of us aren't so fortunate and have to navigate benefit entitlements whilst ill on our own.

Your tone is off. You do come across as not very pleasant. The info IS everywhere. It is your responsibility.

All that not withstanding I hope you get better soon.

Op, I looked into child benefit myself. Due to various issues I was late applying and it was backdated 3 months.

No one told me about it. Take it as a lesson to look for things in the future. Mumsnet will help!

What's being employed for to do with it? Up until a few years ago everyone qualified whether employed or not. More recently a high income charge was brought in so if one of you earns over £50k then some child benefit had to be paid back. Once they earn over £60k then it all gets paid back (or you can claim but not take the payment )

As child benefit is for the child not the parent, you could very well be the most unwell person on earth and they still wouldn't backdate any further than 3 months. People aren't being rude, they're being factual

Jeezo OP - as others have said there was LOTS of news coverage a few years back about ending the universality of CB. It was in the tv news, papers, radio, internet - huge topic of conversation. CB is not a big secret and is widely known about and discussed, even by people who are now no eligible for it.

Even if you'd been on MN during your early pregnancy you'd have seen some discussions about child benefit, tax credits etc.

Most of us who aren't disabled or have a hold with a disability know there are payments out there made to disabled people. We know that kids don't pay prescription charges or for glasses. We know that old people get a pension, even if we're not in that age bracket. Stop playing the "nobody told me" card.

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

In can be lengthened. In extenuating circumstances.

It won't be lengthened to 17 months when the child has another parent.

(And the op has explained and I have apologised and acknowledged my mistake)

I suppose it's not something people generally explain to you because it's something most people know about.

To be perfectly honest, if you grew up in Dublin, I'm v surprised you wouldn't have know about it- it's universal, and frequently discussed in the news/at budget-time, everyone claims it even if some higher earners just out it in savings accounts for their children. The UK version was identical (though slightly less money) till a few years ago when they put in income limits.

I also grew up abroad and having read about tax credits etc which we don't have Did a lot of reading online to figure out how everything worked. I'm afraid that is the kind of thing that is seen as your responsibility when you move somewhere.

However; there are plenty of things it's possible to miss. Financially, I only really found out about income protection insurance and widow/ers pensions recently. I would say it is definitely worth your while checking out online about benefits available- obviously since you're unwell worth asking your husband. Being self employed can complicate things you presumably you have an accountant you could ask. It sounds like you're having a stressful time but I think the best thing you can do is look forward.

OP hasn't just got the birth certificate. It had been returned after her application for child benefit. She already clarified this

Now that I recall, I didn't get any information about CB at the hospital or when I registered DD. So it must vary from place to place.

OP, you've had a shockingly traumatic time. I can imagine how paperwork was at the very bottom of your list if priorities.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that some of your responses have been very aggressive. Your threshold for 'cruelty' seems to be set very low. In as much as you feel hurt by what people have said to you it would be helpful to remind yourself that your words could be causing similar distress to posters who factually answered your question.

It's highly unlikely to be backdated more than 3 months. The government will not regard you and your husband not knowing of the existence of child benefit as reason to do so.
It's strange that neither of you saw any of the discussion, debate and controversy abut the changes to child benefit over the past 7 or 8 years, really.

Op it's fine. People shouldn't be having a pop and @Expemsiveuniform why keep returning to rattle on about how rude the op is and how she has a husband unlike others.... I get bored of your (violin) woe is me approach..... how many times do you need to tell her the same thing?

Op I was poorly before, during and after birth (crohns and eplilepsy) and as you have applied for pip it wouldn't hurt to include the information on your cb claim. It sounds like you have been through a lot and I hope you feel better soon.

I would have thought if you had an accountant they should have mentioned it? As surely they would be dealing with your income for tax credits etc?

I think a good thing for you to do would be to have a browse through the .gov website. It covers most areas of life in a straightforward way - although there are bits about agriculture and fisheries etc that probably won't apply!

Sorry OP, they won't backdate more than 3 months. My son was premature too. I didn't have time to be thinking about benefits when I was just trying to spend as much time as I could willing him to get better. Our circumstances weren't enough to have it backdated either.

@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.

If your son is 17m, he will go to school in sept 2020. You will need to apply sept 2019. Which isn’t much more than than the 18m it took you to realise about the cb. Not “years down the line”. If you want him to go to pre-school you’re applying next sept (in our area).

There are many, many people every year miss the deadline because they “didn’t know”. My council send out nothing. No info, no forms. If you don’t go to preschool you can easily miss it. People often miss it because it’s “years down the line” when their child is 3. And again, extenuationg circumstance won’t get your child a place, you’ll go to the back of the queue.

In our area we don’t get reminders for child checks, hv’s, immunisations. The info is all out there and you have to find it.

In your situation i would be saying to your husband you’re too ill to keep on top of it, so please will he look at your council website and find out what needs to be done.

OP if you grew up in Ireland then your parents would have received Children's Allowance which is a universal payment that everyone receives so surely you would have been curious to know if a similar thing existed in the U.K. And I do hope your health improves soon. I was also unwell after a child and it was a very difficult time so I hope you are on the mend.

Its 2 years exactly micah and he will start when he is five actually.

Thank you for sharing your story @MsMommie it is more important to be with your child then do paperwork when they are premature x

OP I'm very sorry for what you have been through, it sounds very traumatic and I hope you're feeling better now, but it's often the case that as parents, we have to take the initiative and find out what we're entitled to and apply for it. It's not just handed out on a plate. I wouldn't have thought they would backdate more than 3 months.

Wow.... just wow.

And btw, other things people consider general knowledge include:

All 3 and 4 year olds are entitled (but you need to find somewhere that offers it) 15 hours free childcare. If you both work this can be 30 hours but not all places offer it. If you are below a certain income level it extends to 2 year olds.
You have to apply for school places online, nobody will remind you or send you a letter. The deadline is usually the January before but applications open in October.

I had 2 colleagues have children after me, BOTH came to me and asked what financial help, if any, they could get soon after they announced the pregnancy. There is a website called entitled.co.uk try it. It might surprise you.

You had a child without doing the research required - that is solely your fault and not ‘extenuating circumstances’

I am sorry you’ve had a difficult couple of years - I’ve had 2 premature babies myself, I know it’s shit but there’s no way you couldn’t have found 5 minutes to fill in a form.

I was no rude in my answer but you have been incredibly unpleasant to me and several other posters. You need to give yourself a bit of a talking to.