Child benefit stopped. What now?

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi,

A brief summary. We have been receiving child benefit for our son since he was born. £80 or so paid into the bank account every month (he his now 5). It is the only benefit we claim.

In June I noticed it had not been paid into my account. When I checked back I realised it had not been paid in since January. I was amazed and annoyed that I had not noticed. I would notice if my salary had not gone in or unusual amounts going out but as the CB always goes in for the last 5 years I guess I don't look for it.

I telephone the benefits office straight away. They say they had written to me in December but as had not received any reply they had cancelled the benefit. I certainly did not receive any letter and have moved house two years ago (so maybe they have an old address?)

According to the HMRC website if you don't respond to an enquiry they can stop your payment.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/payments-entitlements/payments/stopped-gone-down.htm

The benefits advisor said I need to reapply. Which I have done but the form says they will only back date it 3 months (but is this for new claims only?). I have chased them but they say I just need to wait. It has been 2 months now since I sent the form in.

Now I am kicking myself for not noticing and have now 'missed out' on 7 months CB payments. As a normal working family this money is really valuable to us.

Questions:

1)Will the CB office back date the payment of the CB to January?
or if not do they backdate it to when I resubmitted my claim?
2)How long does it take to get back in the system for them to get the CB going again
3)How fair is it that they can just stop the benefit if you don't reply to a letter? (ie that letter could ahve got lost in the post)

Any advice or insight into this situation much appreciated.

pmlindyloo

I don't think you are in Ireland (from your previous posts) but a similar thing has happened there.

http://www.thejournal.ie/almost-6000-parents-have-child-benefit-suspended-321685-Jan2012/

It does say that when people get in contact then the CB will be reinstated and backdated.

I wonder if the same thing applies for England? Fingers crossed for you.

If you failed to notify them of a change of address I would apologise (grovel if necessary!) and hope for the best.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi,

I am not in Ireland (however my grandma emmigrated from County Longford to London in the 1920's:)). Though it seems a similar situation to your link. When I asked what they had wrote to me about in December they said something like it was a random check to see if I was still entitled to CB.

Which surprised me as I thought once you claimed you received CB all the way through to 16 and did not need to reapply.

I assume they have my old address but if the system is "all linked up" the inland revenue should have my new address?

Let say they have the right address but the letter got lost and the CB is paid into an account that is not checked reguarly e.g a savings account.

Surely in that scenario they would back date it? I can understand if it is a totally new claim they would only back date it 3 months but as I was already claiming and entitled to it, the fact they stopped it due to an enquiry on their part which I have now clarified surely, surely they will backdate it in full?

If they don't back date it in full is there an appeals / complaints process?

pmlindyloo

Have they said whether they are going to backdate it?

Telephone them again and ask.

If they say 'no' then follow the procedure here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/if-things-go-wrong/complaints-appeals/how-to-appeal.htm

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Thanks for the link.

I will telephone again tomorrow. When I have asked if they would backdate it they were quite coy (or maybe could not answer at that stage). All I was told was to "reapply".

I have "reapplied" (i.e sent in a new claim form) that form is in the system and they seem unable to tell me when a decision will be made "I just have to wait". How long do these things normally take???

Hopefully it will be backdated if not I will appeal. I am trying to be philosophical about it:) (if this is all my bit of 'bad luck' for this year then it's not so bad)

.......but it is really, really, annoying knowing I am missing out on useful CB that I am totally entitled to and was stopped by the tax office for no obvious reason.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

My worry if I appealed it's going to come down to the fact I changed address in 2010 and they probably wrote to this address in Dec 2011.

Obviously when I moved address I notified relevant people (Banks / DVLA/ doctors etc) but not specifically HMRC / Child benefit as I don't claim any benefits and assumed that once you were in the system with CB that went all the way through till 16. It would never have crossed my mind to notify them as I was never expecting them to write to me etc I had no idea they would ever need to contact me etc etc


I will have to wait and see........

If anyone else had any experience of this situation I would be keen to hear your thoughts.

missapril75

Bestthingsinlifearefree wrote: »

I assume they have my old address but if the system is "all linked up" the inland revenue should have my new address?

Not unless you have told them.

As that article says, reminders went out as well as the original. There was a thread here recently about a similar situation but different benefit.

There's the original letter, a reminder and a decision letter. When payments were issued by payment book there would have been a recall notice and reminder for that too.

People would claim not to have received any of 3-5 letters.

In your case it seems a straightforward issue of not having your current address.

You're right, it does "just" continue but there are reasons it might stop (or should go to a different parent).

It seems a costly exercise writing en masse like that, but probably proves cost effective if it identifies cases where it's no longer payable.

You're lucky you don't live in Canada where child benefits are a total farce. :eek:

Bestthingsinlifearefree

So now they have the right address and once they have done any 'checks', reconfirmed that I am fully entitled to CB etc

Surely the 'fair' thing to do will be back date to January the CB owed to me?

If the benefit was stopped because they wanted to clarify my entitlement once that entitlement has been clarified surely it will be backdated?

missapril75

Bestthingsinlifearefree wrote: »

Surely the 'fair' thing to do will be back date to January the CB owed to me?

Agreed. Had you been receiving a means tested benefit, reporting an address change would have been a requirement and there might be a case for missing out.

If the benefit was stopped because they wanted to clarify my entitlement once that entitlement has been clarified surely it will be backdated?

I imagine it will be. But there are a few situations where some very unfair things have happened in recent years.

System

If a rival claim was made by someone else (an ex etc) then getting no response from you would mean the other claimant got paid the CB. If that is the case then your new claim would be seen as a rival claim to the other persons and letters will be sent to both of you to determine who does have responsibility for your child.

xylophone

As a normal working family this money is really valuable to us.

Then it seems rather surprising that you did not miss it for seven months.....?