Primary Application - missing Child Benefit Letter

[sams1985]

We have submitted our eldest's primary school application online for Sept 2020 intake, but our council also requires a child benefit entitlement letter to be attached. The deadline is not until the 15th Jan but, despite HMRC themselves previously telling us that the letter is on the way, they have now told us that in order to get the letter we actually need submit the child benefit claim form even if you dont qualify for the payment (we had never made a claim or submitted the form)

Has anyone had any experience with attaching documents to an application after the deadline? An automated email from our council says that if you make the application before the deadline without the letter attached (which we have done, receiving an application number etc.) it will still be treated as on time - and to send the letter on to them "as soon as possible" - however we are starting to worry about it affecting the application!

Be good to know if anyone has gone through something similar with their applications

I wonder why they require that? Not helpful to you sorry but it does seem a bit odd.

Proof of Child's address I think - it has their name and our address on it (where a council tax letter would only have parents names and the address)

Gosh, I have been through the process in England and Wales and never had to do that. Seems a bit of an overkill! Especially as I claimed CB at the address I lived at when my first child was born. I have moved three times since then, and have never updated CB.

The admissions team sent me a letter in about the March of the year of DD2's primary application year, to say that the CB letter I'd attached was out of date. I'd not read the info properly and hadn't realised that it needed to be dated in the past year, so I'd just reused the one I'd obtained for DD1's application. Total panic on my part that DD2 would be treated as a late applicant, but it was actually fine, I just submitted the right thing asap. The admissions person I cried down the phone to was very nice!

Can you not just register your child for cb now and opt out of payments. Not sure if confirmatuon woukd come before 15th but could probably follow.

The only reason that the Local Authority require this information is to confirm your address. The LA cannot refuse your application on the basis of not having the information before the cutoff date of 15th January. As the LA have said in correspondence you should send the information on to them "as soon as possible". The admission guidance does say that LAs "may need to ask for proof of address " but there is no way that proof of address is part of the admission arrangements or admission criteria of the school other than if you are deliberately trying fraudulently to obtain a place. So the only time this would be an issue is if you have recently moved and there is some issue over what is your correct address or some concern at the LA that you are trying to use an address that is not where your child spends most of the week. That is why you should get the information to the LA before the date when places are allocated which is the April 16th.

Also you need to apply for child benefit regardless even if you have to tick the box saying no payment. It is the methodology that your child gets an NI number at 16 and is a pain to sort out if you haven't applied for child benefit. Also if the mother hasn't worked for a while it gets her NI stamp until the child is 5/7/12 - they keep moving the goal posts.

Gosh, I didn’t realise this above about not getting a NI number.....

I didn't realise that about the NI number either. We never applied as we are way over the threshold. Could you tell me where you got that information from please?

My daighyer started school September 2018 and we just had to send her birth certificate

Also you need to apply for child benefit regardless even if you have to tick the box saying no payment. It is the methodology that your child gets an NI number at 16 and is a pain to sort out if you haven't applied for child benefit. Also if the mother hasn't worked for a while it gets her NI stamp until the child is 5/7/12 - they keep moving the goal posts.

Really? We don't have child benefit as both well over the threshold. Also many friends who don't qualify either. I find it hard to believe that having to apply for a benefit that you don't qualify for is the main route to getting an NI number for your child. NI stamp application does apply to any of us either.

www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge

Claiming Child Benefit also means your child will get their National Insurance number automatically shortly before they’re 16. They will not have to apply for one themselves.

We are way over the threshold too but after both my kids I filled in the child benefit application to get them 'in the system' and also for this reason:

www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jul/28/beware-forgoing-child-benefit-could-cost-you-your-state-pension

It was also useful to have the child benefit letter for school applications of course, but I have heard that our local authority would accept a long birth certificate too?

We certainly didn't need it for school applications.

What if you don't get child benefit - have you asked if you can provide alternative proof of address?

Jackiebrambles, not sure where the information about a long birth certificate being acceptable came from but if it is the Local Authority then they are breaking a clear directive in the school admission code. This says in paragraph 2.5 that they are not allowed to ask for a long birth certificate because it contains information about the child's parents. They can ask for a short certificate but not a long one.

Claiming Child Benefit also means your child will get their National Insurance number automatically shortly before they’re 16. They will not have to apply for one themselves

Not to mention
www.gov.uk/report-changes-child-benefit

You must tell the Child Benefit Office straight away if:

• your bank account, name or address changes

(and a list of other circumstances).

The NI number is sent to the child at the address at which CB is being claimed for them.