Rival Child Benenfit Claim

vixen360

The child benefit office has stopped my child benefit, as they have received a rival claim for my son's child benefit. My payments have frozen while they investigate. I am with my son's father and have been since before my son was born in 2011. There has never been any issues with custody - we live together and my son attends nursery during the week. The nursery have written a letter for me to forward to the child benefit office, confirming that he is our son and lives with us. Has anyone else experience a problem like this? The child benefit office are unable to tell me when their investigations will be finished, but for all the time they take to investigate, I am without the money. We are already in financial difficulty. The child benfit office told me that the other claimant would have had to provide my details, so it must be someone I know, however I don't know anyone who would do this. Could this be due to an admin error from the child benefit office rather than a fraudulent claim and how can I speed up the process so that I am not out of pocket for too long?

NYM

Surely that has to be an admin error ?

geminilady

I would phone the benefit office and state firmly that it must be an admin error as you live with the childs father but as the nursery has written to them also it should not be long before they sort it out and your payments should be back dated.

vixen360

Thank you for your replies.. I assumed it was an error, but when I spoke to them, they said it will be somone I know, because they would have had to have given my details. I was suprised that she said 'it will be someone you know,' rather than 'it's likely to be someone you know.' Then again, there's no way she would have known this for sure, as she would have just been reading the notes on her system.

pmlindyloo

vixen360 wrote: »

Thank you for your replies.. I assumed it was an error, but when I spoke to them, they said it will be somone I know, because they would have had to have given my details. I was suprised that she said 'it will be someone you know,' rather than 'it's likely to be someone you know.' Then again, there's no way she would have known this for sure, as she would have just been reading the notes on her system.

I have to agree that this sounds as if it is an admin error.

However, is there any chance it could be a relative - parent/sister/brother? Any problems within the extended family about your own family?

Sorry to presume - just seems strange about the 'someone you know' remark.

fed_up_and_stressed

Sounds to me like they were trying to give you a hint that its a friend / family member without breaking confidentiality rules.

Poppie68

I would just wait until they have finished their investigation it could very well just be an admin error to think otherwise would possibly cause untoward friction if you start thinking of deceitful family or friends...You will get your answer in the end but it won't hurt to call to keep them on the ball.

NYM

I can't understand why they've suspended the CB payment. It makes no sense even if it was a genuine rival claim, they would surely write/contact the PWC to confirm the circumstances ?

They certainly can't take it away from you without good reason and just because someone else may have made a claim isn't a good enough reason.

Good luck getting it sorted x

vixen360

No problems within the family - nothing. I did wonder if it could've been someone from the nursery (who would have access to my som's file), but I can't see that someone would be stupid enough to think they the child benefit office would pay out twice.

pmlindyloo

If you consider that the time to deal with this is unacceptable then this may be useful:

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-complaints

Mojisola

NYM wrote: »

I can't understand why they've suspended the CB payment. It makes no sense even if it was a genuine rival claim, they would surely write/contact the PWC to confirm the circumstances ?

I'm surprised as well. There have been threads on here from parents who have become the 'parent with care' but have been unable to get CB because the other parent refuses to give it up.