Changing Child Benefit Claimant

aamadami · 26 March 2012 at 5:16PM

Hello Everyone,

My friend recently told me that I should have made child benefits claim on wife's name instead of my name. if I claim it on her name then it will protect her state pension.

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/how-claiming-child-benefit-can-protect-your-state-pension

I am working full time and she is looking after kid at the moment. she is planning to return to part time work in few months time.

I have called child benefits office and they told me to claim CB on wife's name, I will have to cancel current CB and apply for new one on wife's name. this can take upto 3 months. while it is being processed, I might lose CB payment.

we have start claiming since last 4 months. is it worth this hassle?

rincage · 7 November 2012 at 8:36AM

I think I'm in the same position as you. I claim the child benefits (i do the household finances), but now realise I should have claimed in wife's name to ensure she gets the NI credits - as explained here

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/start/claiming/protect-pension.htm

Did you makes the switch? Any issues?

seven-day-weekend · 7 November 2012 at 8:38AM

You need to claim it in the name of the person who is not working or may have a partial working history, this will protect their State Pension.

Horseunderwater · 7 November 2012 at 10:47AM

Not sure how we did it, but I think we just phoned them up and they did it there and then. It was put into my hubby's name as he was the stay at home dad. He still is.

qwer78 · 9 May 2014 at 3:28PM

Has anybody made the change that can report on the process and how long it took please?

I am grateful to the previous poster, but as it was an "I think", I would like a more solid account.

There are going to be a few families these days that might have one parent needing the NI credits some years and the other later on.

I am concerned that the easy switch is a switch of whose bank account it goes to, rather than a switch of who is formally claiming. (The form allows you to choose which parent's bank account it goes to separately from who is claiming).

Mojisola · 9 May 2014 at 5:12PM

Does this help - https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/start/claiming/more-than-one-claim.htm#6
Changing your mind about who gets Child Benefit
If you want someone else to claim Child Benefit, for example to help protect their pension, you'll need to tell the Child Benefit Office that:
you want to stop getting Child Benefit
you want someone else to get it instead - that person will need to make a new claim to Child Benefit

rincage · 11 May 2014 at 5:25AM

I have done this. Was a simple case of writing to stop the benefit in my name and re-applying in the wife's name. When I originally queried online I got the advice below in early 2013. Note the last sentance about not having to necessarily give up your Child Benefit so another person can claim & have their State Pension protected. Still I swapped over to the wife to be on the safe side.

"
Dear Sir ,

Thank you for your email.

Please do not click on 'reply' to this email. If you do other people using the Internet could see personal information about you.

Your wife must fill in a Child Benefit claim form to claim Child Benefit.

She can claim Child Benefit online via our website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/ch2-online-stubb.htm

Or she can get a claim pack from us by phoning our helpline. Our numbers are shown below.

The weekly rate of Child Benefit is £20.30 for the eldest or only child and £13.40 for each additional child.

If you have a child under 12 - and you're either looking after them at home or you work but don't earn enough to pay National Insurance contributions - Child Benefit can help you qualify for 'credits' to protect your State Pension.

Before 6 April 2010 if you received Child Benefit for a child under 16 you automatically qualified for a scheme called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) which helped to protect your basic State Pension.

From 6 April 2010 for each week that you get Child Benefit for a child under 12 you will receive weekly NI credits to protect your future entitlement to basic State Pension.

If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010 any complete tax years of HRP you have already built up before 2010 will be converted into qualifying years. Up to 22 years of HRP can be converted into qualifying years for basic State Pension.

Before 6 April 2010 if you received Child Benefit for a child under 6, you automatically built up entitlement to an additional pension through State Second Pension.

From 6 April 2010 for each week that you get Child Benefit for a child under 12, you will receive weekly Earnings Factor credits to protect your future entitlement to the State Second Pension.

If you are considering giving up your Child Benefit so another person can claim & have their State Pension protected, this may not be necessary. You should go to www.direct.gov.uk/pensions or phone The Pension Service on 0845 6060265 or text-phone 0845 6060285 for advice.

If you need to reply, click on the link below.
Reply from our website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/contactus.htm

Yours faithfully

D TARBET

Child Benefit Office

Website: www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit
"

qwer78 · 3 June 2014 at 1:30AM

I have spoken to the office. To change which parent is claiming and getting the NI credit, you need to fill in a new form. You also need to get the existing claimant to telephone to agree to stopping their claim. Telephoning is so it can be verified quickly. A letter will result in a delay.

The previous post refers to it may not being necessary. This is a red herring, and refers to only 31 out of a possible 45 years being required for some people. However, if the parent who could do with the credits has changed, then you should do the change.

andy.wood · 29 July 2015 at 10:21PM

I think I'm in the same position as you. I claim the child benefits (i do the household finances), but now realise I should have claimed in wife's name to ensure she gets the NI credits - as explained here

But, my son already 9 years old. Did anyone of you manage to claim back your wife pension credit for the past years or transfer credits from a spouse or partner who got Child Benefit for the past years?

p00hsticks · 30 July 2015 at 12:04AM

andy.wood wrote: »

But, my son already 9 years old. Did anyone of you manage to claim back your wife pension credit for the past years or transfer credits from a spouse or partner who got Child Benefit for the past years?

I'm not an expert but I don't think it's possible to retrospectively change who gets the NI credits associated with the CB - the one that gets the money gets the credits.

Assuming your wife is not working you need to get the claim swapped over to her name ASAP. Next April the requirement for a full State Pension goes up from 30 to 35 years so there's less scope to accommodate gaps. It might be worth you looking into whether it's worth purchasing additional years for her ... the Pensions board can probably advise, but would probably suggest that the first step would be to check her NI record and/or get a pension forecast.

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record
https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement

bloolagoon · 30 July 2015 at 8:39AM

andy.wood wrote: »

I think I'm in the same position as you. I claim the child benefits (i do the household finances), but now realise I should have claimed in wife's name to ensure she gets the NI credits - as explained here

But, my son already 9 years old. Did anyone of you manage to claim back your wife pension credit for the past years or transfer credits from a spouse or partner who got Child Benefit for the past years?

Does she work at all

Changing Child Benefit Claimant

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