Child benefit problem - Now what do I do!

surfbabe10

I will try and make this as short as poss! My daughter was born at the beginning of July, the child benefit office received my first claim on 3 Aug, I had a letter in Sept asking for my 11 year old sons birth certificate which I sent in straight away, I assumed they wanted this as some years ago I changed his surname and they wanted to confirm this, had a phone call a couple of weeks later from a lady at child benefit asking if I knew why my sons birth certificate had been requested as she couldnt understand it. She said she would look into it and would call me back, she never did. Heard nothing for some weeks so started calling and the call centre promised me a call back, no one ever called. Got a letter in Oct saying the claim I had put in for my daughter had been disallowed due to me not sending the requested information to them! Got another letter that week saying that due to an error on their part they had lost the original application form and could I send another one in which I did straight away with another birth certificate which they also requested, they wont admit to losing the first birth certificate which I know I sent in they say they dont have it. They received my second claim on 4 Nov. For nearly 3 months I have been ringing weekly and been promised a call back after call back and no one ever calls me back, the second claim form has not even been processed an not even flagged up to look into even after all the phone calls I have made. I have emailed a complaint, rung a complaint in and sent one in to the Director by recorded delivery which is down on the computer as been received but no one has done anything about it. What do I do now I am owed almost £300 but have been told I may not get back pay. They are so unhelpful it is like banging your head against a wall the staff can be really rude to. Would really appreciate any help as no one at child benefit wants to help at all and I honestly dont know where to turn. Am currently on SMP which is not a lot at all so any extra money helps especially with a new baby.

DX2

Phone your MP.

McKneff

Thats absolutely outrageous; Like DX2 speak to your MP
as soon as possible.

Fran

Ask Child Benefit for their complaints procedure and start at whatever level you've already got to & work your way through. Also the MP idea is a good one.

fantasy_dreams

I need to change CB from my ex into my name and I am having no luck either. Sent in a birth certificate and all the paperwork in June, they said it will be 3-4 months and I called the other daya nd they said they never received it. That means I have to start all over again and cannot claim child tax credit until it is sorted. Thankfully CB is paid into my account.

Teaukaka

I applied for child benefit last march,got a letter in september saying they had lost the march application and to send in another one,December now and heard nothing,but i got child tax credits payed after about 2 weeks,so you can get them without getting child benefit.

fantasy_dreams

Teaukaka wrote: »

I applied for child benefit last march,got a letter in september saying they had lost the march application and to send in another one,December now and heard nothing,but i got child tax credits payed after about 2 weeks,so you can get them without getting child benefit.

how do you get it paid though ? I thought you had to give them the reference number for your Child Benefit ?

Teaukaka

Tha form asks for a ref number,but I said I didnt have one yet as i was in the proses of applying for CB

lawdel18

I worked for chb in a call center until recently, i can assure u it is not just u banging your head against a brick wall but the staff in the contact centers are as well. The basic call types they follow if a claim for a new child has been on the system for 8 weeks then send a call back if upto 5 call backs are not received then you pass it to a team leader who can request a 3 day call back, if that is not received its a 24hr call back. The call backs are sent its just the chb office cannot keep up with there work load and the call backs. the chb office do constantly lose claim forms and birth certs. there filing is apparently horrendous. The best advice would like people have said before is to contact your mp although people on the help line are not allowed to tell you that. if you need any info pm me.

fantasy_dreams

so basically there are spare birth certificates floating about somewhere....thats not very good is it ?:mad:

They lost my daughter's as well. And everything else I sent them. Not happy...

modziux

hello, my son is almost 7 months old and i am not getting the child benefit as well, they keep sending me the same forms and asking to fill in, while i know that ive done it three or four times allready. telling that i wont get the money back for those 7 months. i keep calling them and their answer to my question whats happening is '' i do not have this information, we will have to call you back'' if they call, they say u have to wait. for how long????
my smp finishes in two weeks, and the child is growing and the needs is getting bigger. what we have to do, to get our money for the child:(..............