HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has updated online guidance for parents or guardians making a new claim for Child Benefit. You can claim Child Benefit if you are responsible for bringing up a child who is under 16, or 20 if they stay in approved education or training.
Only one person can claim Child Benefit and HMRC advises that if you are in a couple and one of you does not work, or earns less than £242 a week, then that person should make the claim to help protect their State Pension. There’s no limit to how many children you can claim for and you do not need to be the parent of the child to get the financial support worth £21.80 every week for the eldest or only child, and £14.45 per additional child.
However, a new update on GOV.UK explains that you can only use the online form if you and your partner have always lived in the UK - unless you or your partner are a member of HM Forces or civil servants abroad.
By claiming Child Benefit, you can get:
- an allowance paid to you for each child - you will usually get it every four weeks
- National Insurance credits which count towards your State Pension
- a National Insurance number for your child without them having to apply for one - they will usually get the number before they turn 16 years old
If you choose not to get Child Benefit payments, you should still fill in and send off the claim form to get the other advantages.
HMRC also warns people not to delay making a claim for Child Benefit as it can only be backdated by up to three months.
It said: “Claim as soon as your baby is born and registered or once a child comes to live with you, including adoption.”
How to make a claim
You can claim Child Benefit as soon as you’ve registered the birth of your child, or they come to live with you.
How long it takes
It can take up to 16 weeks to process a new Child Benefit claim and may longer if you’re new to the UK.
You can find out about making a new claim, or adding an additional child to an existing claim on GOV.UK here.
Scottish Child Payment
Scottish Child Payment is a devolved weekly payment of £25 each week that you can get for every child you look after who is under 16 years of age. Similar to Child Benefit, it is paid every four weeks if your application is successful.
Social Security Scotland delivers the benefit and advises: “If two people apply for the same child, Social Security Scotland have a process of deciding who gets the payment. This is called a double claim.
“The process depends on the benefits that you and the other person are getting.”
Scottish Child Payment is part of a wider package of five family payments including:
- Best Start Grant
- Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment
- Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment
- Best Start Grant School Age Payment
- Best Start Foods
Who can apply?
Only one person can get Scottish Child Payment for a child and it does not affect any other UK or Scottish Government benefits that you, or any person in your household, currently get.
You may be able to get Scottish Child Payment if all of the following apply:
- you live in Scotland
- you or your partner are getting certain benefits or payments
- you or your partner are the main person looking after a child who is under 16-years-old
Benefits or payment you or your partner must get
You can apply whether you're in work or not, as long as you're getting one or more of the following benefits:
- Universal Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Income Support
- Pension Credit
- Working Tax Credit
- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
How to apply
For full details on claiming the benefit or to make a new claim, you can do it online here.
You can also apply over the phone by calling Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 222.
Find out more about the Scottish Child Payment on mygov.scot here.
To keep up to date with the latest benefits news, join our Money Saving Scotland Facebook page here, or subscribe to our newsletter which goes out four times each week - sign up here.
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