Child benefit - how to claim?!

[suzi79]

I would be grateful if anyone could advise me on how to go about claiming child benefit. My little girl was born prematurely 6 weeks ago and with all the stress of SCBU we have only just given this a second thought and realised we have no idea about it! Any advice much appreciated, thanks .

They normally give you a claim form in the bounty pack that you recieve at the hospital. Ask the nurses to get you one from the ante natal ward, you fill it in and send it off with your baby's birth certificate.

Congratulations

I didn't get a bounty pack this time as DD was born at home. You can download a claim form (I just googled 'Child Benefit') but have to print it out and send it. You can also phone the CB people and they will send you a pack in the post.

Think I got given the form when I registered ds' birth. Otherwise contact your tax office. You can only get it backdated for up to 3 months so do so sooner rather than later.

Also dont forget to claim Child tax credits within 3mths.

Even if you dont have child benefit number still put it in.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I have got the forms now and trying to get my brain sufficiently functional to fill them in!