Transfer of child benefit

cosmic-dust

midnight_express wrote: »

What you are proposing would be fraud unless the child actually went to live with you.

No it isn't.

Who can get Child Benefit?

If you're responsible for a child, you can normally get Child Benefit for them - even if you're not their parent.
You can get Child Benefit even if your child doesn't live with you, as long as:

• you pay towards their upkeep
• what you pay is at least the same as the amount of Child Benefit
• the person your child lives with is not getting Child Benefit for them

If you and another person both claim Child Benefit for the same child, only one of you can get it.
Child Benefit payments usually stop when your child reaches 16, unless they are in education or training that counts for Child Benefit. For example, an advanced course at higher education level - such as a degree - doesn't count.
You can't get Child Benefit for your child once they reach the age of 20.

Orville

cosmic-dust wrote: »

No it isn't.

Who can get Child Benefit?

If you're responsible for a child, you can normally get Child Benefit for them - even if you're not their parent.
You can get Child Benefit even if your child doesn't live with you, as long as:

• what you pay is at least the same as the amount of Child Benefit
  

Am i being thick here in that, if you are giving the resident parent the same amount, what is the point in it being claimed by the NRP.?.

Fiver29

Orville wrote: »

Am i being thick here in that, if you are giving the resident parent the same amount, what is the point in it being claimed by the NRP.?.

Most likely because the PWC will be earning more than the cut off point for CB when the new rules come in. So the NRP can claim the CB, then use it to pay CM, meaning the taxpayer is paying the CM. Or perhaps I'm just being cynical and jaded after reading these boards for too long.

Orville

Fiver29 wrote: »

Most likely because the PWC will be earning more than the cut off point for CB when the new rules come in. So the NRP can claim the CB, then use it to pay CM, meaning the taxpayer is paying the CM. Or perhaps I'm just being cynical and jaded after reading these boards for too long.

To me that really is tantamount to fraud. You should only get CB if you are the resident parent or together as a couple. Do tax credits only get paid to the person who gets the CB?. I wonder if the OP will be getting that too?.

harrcross

Thanks comic dust and every one. As PWC will lose the benefit next year she would still like our son to benefit directly from it through me as part of my parental role. Perhaps it is more straightforward to wait til April?

miamoo

This is very interesting. I am split from the kids dad, and uptill he was made redundant last year I had the majority of care of DD but since his new job is closer to home and fewer hours, we share her care 50/50 now.
To be honest she stays there more than she stays here, since he got a new puppy, as she walks it for him after school etc.
I claim child benefit as I always have, but next april will probably lose it due to the new rules. Are you saying its perfectly legal for me to pass the CB over to her dad?
We dont claim any benefits/tax credits etc and never have.

Edited to add I dont want to even consider this if its considered fraud, or not allowed and its certainly not about tax credits etc, just child benefit. (Her dad earns a good wage but is below the threshold for losing CB)

[Deleted User]

miamoo wrote: »

This is very interesting. I am split from the kids dad, and uptill he was made redundant last year I had the majority of care of DD but since his new job is closer to home and fewer hours, we share her care 50/50 now.
To be honest she stays there more than she stays here, since he got a new puppy, as she walks it for him after school etc.
I claim child benefit as I always have, but next april will probably lose it due to the new rules. Are you saying its perfectly legal for me to pass the CB over to her dad?
We dont claim any benefits/tax credits etc and never have.

Edited to add I dont want to even consider this if its considered fraud, or not allowed and its certainly not about tax credits etc, just child benefit. (Her dad earns a good wage but is below the threshold for losing CB)

atm it seems perfectly within the rules,at worst its a loophole,and probably one that will be closed at some point in the future

FBaby

The bottom line is CB goes to the parent who has responsibility for that child in terms of finances, which is expected to be the parent with whom the child lives and spends most time with. CB does not systematically go to whichever parent can gain financially from it.

I will be losing child benefit too next year whereas my ex will still be able to claim for the child he has with his partner and her two children. He would be entitled to claim for our two children IF they officially lived with him, but they do not, so that's it. Playing the system to get something out of it when in fair circumstances it wasn't intended for is at least morally equivalent to fraud.

miamoo

Fbaby I have looked into this further and spoken to the child benefit office and you are wrong. It is nothing to do with who the child lives with officially, I thought this myself, but its whoever is responsible for the child. I have double checked that if 2 parents share the care equally, then either can claim and the answer was yes.

System

If you remember there was a big hooha about Poles(?) coming to the UK and claiming CB etc and sending it back to the rest of the family back home - all perfectly legal.

Another example of the stupidity built in to the UK benefit system.