benifits even if your baby dies

kcornwall

We lost our grand daughter last october when she was just 2 days old and have only recently realised that my daughter could claim child benefit for her even though she had passed away . So please if this may affect your family check on the child benefit site to see if you can claim. It is a difficult time I know but if you are the grandparents check yourselves as the parents will have alot to deal with and financially it will help. We have probably missed out because the claim will be to late but we are trying.

kelloggs36

Are you sure about this? There is nothing on the website to suggest that this is the case, and having worked in benefits, I know that if a child has died and a person continued to claim they had committed benefit fraud. Are you sure that it is not for a very short time?

LizzieS_2

She can claim child benefit for the 2 days, but the claim would have had to be made within 12 weeks of birth (there may be an extention for some situations).

I think although you quoted child benefit, you actually meant the surestart maternity grant of £500 which some can claim (it can be claimed at a certain number of weeks pregnant, so technically that one could possibly be claimed after death).

Also, after 26 weeks in pregnancy there is still an entitlement to maternity leave irrespective of the sad event.

LizzieS_2

Parents only think of money when they first realise there's a funeral - actually it's free, but unless you've been through it or know some-one who has you wouldn't know that.

The OP is a grandparent offerring advice. I did think he/she was referring to the wrong benefit (and stated so earlier), but guessed the underlying reason was the fact that most parents do buy numerous baby essentials long before the baby is born, and sometimes cannot really afford it.

sarflee

The OP appears to just be making people aware of the fact and as far as I am aware, you can claim CB for up to eight weeks, following the death of a child, even if the claim has not been made. You can also claim the child trust fund payment.

Whether or not you agree with the moral aspect, this is the law and actually may be of help to some who may find themselves in financial difficulties.

To the OP I am extremely sorry to hear of your loss.

Zara33

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Are you sure about this? There is nothing on the website to suggest that this is the case, and having worked in benefits, I know that if a child has died and a person continued to claim they had committed benefit fraud. Are you sure that it is not for a very short time?

According to HMRC website:

If your child has died it is worth knowing that Child Benefit payments will carry on for a short while longer. They could help with the extra costs that you face at this difficult time.
What you need to do

You will need to tell us as soon as possible if your child or a child you're responsible for has died. Tell us the exact date of death too. We'll need this information for our records. We'll also pass these details on to any other part of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that needs to know. That way you'll only have to get in touch with us once.
Let us know online if your child has died
The first eight weeks after your child dies

We'll generally carry on paying your Child Benefit for eight weeks from the date that your child died.
If you don't tell us that they've died until after the eight weeks, we might end up paying you too much.
If you qualify for Child Benefit for your child you may also be able to get a Child Trust Fund payment.

Link for further info :
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/child-deceased.htm

kcornwall

Thank you to all sensible people who understood what I was trying to say. Obviously you would not get child benefit for evey but you can get it for a short while and as I know from experiance now theparents are not thinking about this at the time but maybe grandparents who could be reading this may find it helpful. I know that even now my daughter and her partner are having difficulties coming to terms with this so any advice I hope will be useful to others.

Zara33

kcornwall wrote: »

Thank you to all sensible people who understood what I was trying to say. Obviously you would not get child benefit for evey but you can get it for a short while and as I know from experiance now theparents are not thinking about this at the time but maybe grandparents who could be reading this may find it helpful. I know that even now my daughter and her partner are having difficulties coming to terms with this so any advice I hope will be useful to others.

I would guess it's something that is not widely known and tbh i never knew about it until i came across your post, and with a bit of help from google the rest as they say is history.

It must be an awful situation for you all and i thankyou for taking the time to inform others.