Can you claim backdated class 3 NI credits from Child Benefit?

kwangomango

My wife hasn't been employed since the birth of our child 7 years ago and we never registered for child benefit as I was earning over the threshold.

It has since come to my attention that my wife has missed out on 7 years of class 3 NI credits by us not being child benefit registered.

Does anyone know for sure if we can backdate a claim for these 7 years of credits? I've spoken to a couple of people at the NI office, and one said yes we could, but the other said no we couldn't.

Does anyone know for certain?

p00hsticks

According to the gov.uk website you can only backdate a Child Benefit claim for 3 months. 
Whether there are separate rules if you are only interested in the associated credits, I'm not sure

Child Benefit: Make a claim - GOV.UK

molerat

The government should be bringing in legislation some time in 2026 to allow reclaims back to 2013 when the HICBC came into force.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-simplification-update-january-2024/tax-simplification-update-january-2024

Amending the parents’ National Insurance Credit (Child Benefit)

As announced on 27 April 2023, the government will legislate to introduce a route for people to apply for National Insurance Credits for parents and carers for tax years where they have not claimed Child Benefit, to ensure that people do not miss out on their State Pension entitlement. The credit will add qualifying years of National Insurance where eligible which will support future State Pension eligibility.

Individuals will be able to claim this Credit from April 2026. The eligibility for the Credit will be closely based on Child Benefit eligibility criteria. Transitional arrangements will ensure those affected since 2013 are still able to claim.

Going forward, applications will be available for 6 years following the relevant tax year. The government will bring forward secondary legislation as soon as possible.

One would assume the current administration will be carrying on with this legislation, maybe try writing to your MP to ask.

gjohn9

So given this sentence: "The eligibility for the Credit will be closely based on Child Benefit eligibility criteria".

Are we thinking these retrospective credits will be available to those who weren't eligible for child benefit because earnings were too high over those previous years?

Trying to decide whether to pay voluntarily now for e.g. 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 that may drop off the "previous 6 years" list before the legislation starts in Apr 2026, and hoping that the payment can then be claimed back.  Or if we find in Apr 2026 we're "not eligible", we can then complete the voluntary payments for 2020-2021 onwards...