Transfer of child benefit NI credits: can in be backdated?

slizovskiy

Hello, We are receiving Child Benefit for 6 years, but only recently I have realised that it is important that it must be my wife and not me who receive the Child Benefit  since she does not work and needs NI Credits for her pension.   I have tried to apply for transfer of ChB from me to my wife,  it has gone through, but they refused to backdate this transfer since I have not provided a compelling explanation of why I did not apply earlier. 
 I am trying to re-apply  with explanation that my wife has only recently received British Citizenship, so, we were not thinking of her pension before.   Is this a sensible reasoning?  Any better advice apart from paying NI for missing years? 
Thank you,
Sergey

calcotti

They are asking because you are trying to go back more than a year, which is the normal limit. It’s done to HMRC to decide what is reasonable, there isn't a definite answer.

OhWow

slizovskiy said:

Hello, We are receiving Child Benefit for 6 years, but only recently I have realised that it is important that it must be my wife and not me who receive the Child Benefit  since she does not work and needs NI Credits for her pension.   I have tried to apply for transfer of ChB from me to my wife,  it has gone through, but they refused to backdate this transfer since I have not provided a compelling explanation of why I did not apply earlier. 
 I am trying to re-apply  with explanation that my wife has only recently received British Citizenship, so, we were not thinking of her pension before.   Is this a sensible reasoning?  Any better advice apart from paying NI for missing years? 
Thank you,
Sergey

If your wife has only recently received British citizenship, then I assume she was only recently granted ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain)? If you (her husband) were a British citizen when she received her ILR, she could apply for British citizenship as soon as ILR was granted.

To get to ILR, it is 5 years minimum on two LLR (Limited Leave to Reamin) visas and these visas would have had the condition No Recourse to Public Funds.  Child Benefit is a Public Fund and if your wife is a Russian citizen too, there is no reciprocal agreement with Russia to pay Child Benefit . She could not claim Child Benefit in her name while on a NRPF visa as she would be in breach of her visa.

The NRPF condition for migrants using the UK immigration route, is only lifted when ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) is granted.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-funds

What date was she granted ILR?

To work out if she needs to pay missing NIC years for a full UK state pension -

How many tax years until your wife reaches UK state pension age?

Has she worked in the UK and paid National Insurance Contributions (towards a UK state pension)? If yes, how many tax years?

calcotti

Certainly, whatever the reasons you may give for not asking sooner, you cannot backdate the credits to a date prior to the date on which she could have claimed Child Benefit herself, which she would not have been entitled to do while subject to immigration control.

slizovskiy

Great news!   Our appeal has been granted (3 months waiting for reply), and NI contributions have been transferred back till 2015.  At that time, my wive was on Tier 2 Dependant  visa, while I have had my ILR. 

OhWow

slizovskiy said:

Great news!   Our appeal has been granted (3 months waiting for reply), and NI contributions have been transferred back till 2015.  At that time, my wive was on Tier 2 Dependant  visa, while I have had my ILR. 

Your wife would have had the No Recourse to Public Funds stipulation with her Tier 2 Dependant visa. As explained above, Child Benefit is a public fund and she is not be allowed to have that in her name until she had been granted ILR.

Did you tell HMRC that she was NRPF back in 2015? And could only have the CB in her name and the NI Credits, from the date she was granted ILR?

Claiming public funds with NRPF in the visa, would have likely meant that a further visa as a T2 Dependant, or  ILR, would have been refused: unless the person could prove it was an administative error by proving they stated they were subject to immigration control, NRPF (but the funds would likely have to be paid back). I assume you put the Child Benefit claim in your name in 2015 as you knew your wife could not have this public fund? You might want to talk to a specialist immigration advisor for advice.

calcotti

OhWow said:

slizovskiy said:

Great news!   Our appeal has been granted (3 months waiting for reply), and NI contributions have been transferred back till 2015.  At that time, my wive was on Tier 2 Dependant  visa, while I have had my ILR. 

Your wife would have had the No Recourse to Public Funds stipulation with her Tier 2 Dependant visa. As explained above, Child Benefit is a public fund and she is not be allowed to have that in her name until she had been granted ILR. 

She now has British Citizenship so her status is not prejudiced but it does seem that her status at that time has not, for whatever reason, been picked up.

Alice_Holt

calcotti said:

OhWow said:

slizovskiy said:

Great news!   Our appeal has been granted (3 months waiting for reply), and NI contributions have been transferred back till 2015.  At that time, my wive was on Tier 2 Dependant  visa, while I have had my ILR. 

Your wife would have had the No Recourse to Public Funds stipulation with her Tier 2 Dependant visa. As explained above, Child Benefit is a public fund and she is not be allowed to have that in her name until she had been granted ILR. 

She now has British Citizenship so her status is not prejudiced but it does seem that her status at that time has not, for whatever reason, been picked up.

         If it is picked up, do you think it may treated as an overpayment?
    
         Or would there be other repercussions for the OP's wife?

calcotti

Alice_Holt said:

calcotti said:

OhWow said:

slizovskiy said:

Great news!   Our appeal has been granted (3 months waiting for reply), and NI contributions have been transferred back till 2015.  At that time, my wive was on Tier 2 Dependant  visa, while I have had my ILR. 

Your wife would have had the No Recourse to Public Funds stipulation with her Tier 2 Dependant visa. As explained above, Child Benefit is a public fund and she is not be allowed to have that in her name until she had been granted ILR. 

She now has British Citizenship so her status is not prejudiced but it does seem that her status at that time has not, for whatever reason, been picked up.

         If it is picked up, do you think it may treated as an overpayment?
    
         Or would there be other repercussions for the OP's wife?

As I understand it, it is only the NI credits that are transferred so no ‘payment’ has been made to wife, and therefore no overpayment can have occurred. (Which would also mean that the NRPF restriction hasn’t been breached, even retrospectively.)

Logically the way to correct any error that has occurred (because the wife should not have received them as she would not have been eligible to claim CB herself at the time and therefore doesn’t meet the eligibility requirement) would be simply to cancel the credits incorrectly awarded.

slizovskiy

Thank you for your comments!  I have checked that more than half of the appeal-awarded NI credits were for the period when she already had her ILR granted,  so, it is not a big issue.   
But the main useful message in my post is that NI credit transfer CAN be backdated if any reason for late appeal is found.  I suppose, the civil servants seem to have no well-defined guidance as to what this "reason" could be and  may judge it positively.

TELLIT01

calcotti said:

As I understand it, it is only the NI credits that are transferred so no ‘payment’ has been made to wife, and therefore no overpayment can have occurred. (Which would also mean that the NRPF restriction hasn’t been breached, even retrospectively.)

Logically the way to correct any error that has occurred (because the wife should not have received them as she would not have been eligible to claim CB herself at the time and therefore doesn’t meet the eligibility requirement) would be simply to cancel the credits incorrectly awarded.

There have been no payments made to the wife - so far.  She will eventually reach State Pension age and may receive more than she is entitled to if she has been given 6 years NI credits erroneously.

I suspect that a wrong decision has been made, possibly because staff are working with less supervision due to Covid and WFH.  Will that error ever be noticed?  Possibly not.