Child Benefit Stopped Unexpectedly - help!

Pipkin

I just discovered this morning that I have not had a child benefit payment since August.

My circumstances are that I have recently moved house, which I have informed them of, and given them the new address.

I have a 16 yr old for whom benefit could have potentially been stopped, but they have stayed on at school, which I have informed them of,at which they told me they would continue to receive it, and a 15 year old who definitely should still be receiving it.

So why have they stopped my benefit?

I phoned the helpline but they *do not have the information on the computer* to tell me why and so I have to wait for a phonecall back

Im quite concerned.. is it just a mistake on their part do you think?

Will we get it back?

Pipkin

If anyone could help I'd be really greatful :beer:

jonuk7

Not sure if it would help, but my GF had this about 8 weeks ago, she moved address informed them etc then a week later she stopped getting payments, rang up and it turned out when she informed another think it was CTC of her new address they had misheard the Postcode and got she lived in Cardiff (she has lived in Melton Mowbray for the last 23 years and never been to Cardiff) after 10 minutes trying to tell them there was a mistake they sent her to the Jobcentre as it was income support who enter it wrong and there system communicates with CTC and CB so had ended up with conflicting address, she had to sign a sworn (well to the jobcentre it was) statement stating she had never been to Cardiff let alone lived there, they updated everything and had the payments expressed to her account same day.

Pipkin

It does help, thank you very much for replying.

I can only think that a letter has been sent to my old address and returned, so they have stopped my benefit because they feel they have no proof of where I reside, but since my new address is on the system (since you have to provide it as part of the security check when you ring up), which means it HAS been accepted, even that makes no sense?

I mean I informed the tax credit people of the address change on the same day as the CB and I am still receiving payments from them no problem?

It's a mystery.

LittleTinker

Round about June time, you will have been sent some forms from Child Benefit asking what your child is likely to do in September.....get a job or stay in education.

Did you return these forms?

If you didnt get these or havent returned them because of your move, that could be the problem.

Otherwise.....when you phone them, they should have told you that they are having problems with a backlog of forms and they are still wading through them and sorting out payments in order of who they think needs it more. Ie those on IS may be dealt with first.

I had the same problem and when I telephoned this is what they told me............but she input the right data onto the computer there and then and told me a payment would be sent straight out to me. It was.

Pipkin

Hi Tinker, thank you for your response.

I did recieve some forms about that time, and I phoned the CB to explain our circumstances.

Because we were moving house which I knew -but I did not yet know exactly where to, or which school the children would be attending when they moved, or even if 16 year old would still be attending school since it depended on their GCSE results if they stayed on or not - I phoned and explained and the lady told me that was fine, to just phone when we had moved and I did know - which I did do.. but obviously this has not been ok.

The lady said nothing to me about a computer backlog or anything, she simply said that she did not have the information on the computer but that someone would phone me over the next few days and tell me why it had been stopped.

I've never had that before and it sounds a bit ominous, so I am worried.

I've done nothing wrong or fraudulent and am not claiming anything I'm not entitled to - but I feel like a criminal!

I just hope it gets sorted out soon, as we need the money.

LittleTinker

Pipkin wrote: »

Hi Tinker, thank you for your response.

I did recieve some forms about that time, and I phoned the CB to explain our circumstances.

Because we were moving house which I knew -but I did not yet know exactly where to, or which school the children would be attending when they moved, or even if 16 year old would still be attending school since it depended on their GCSE results if they stayed on or not - I phoned and explained and the lady told me that was fine, to just phone when we had moved and I did know - which I did do.. but obviously this has not been ok.

The lady said nothing to me about a computer backlog or anything, she simply said that she did not have the information on the computer but that someone would phone me over the next few days and tell me why it had been stopped.

I've never had that before and it sounds a bit ominous, so I am worried.

I've done nothing wrong or fraudulent and am not claiming anything I'm not entitled to - but I feel like a criminal!

I just hope it gets sorted out soon, as we need the money.

Just telephone them again and tell them what has happened.
It could be that the other operator 'forgot' to update your records.....it does happen.

And noone minds you phoning......it is your entitlement afterall.

You should stay on the telephone until you get the confirmation you are looking for.....the people who answer the phone can and do issue payments.