Half a million families are missing out on an average of £1,500 in child benefit payments - we explain how to check if you’re eligible.
The warning from charity Turn2Us claims parents don’t realise they’re able to claim the support.
If you’re eligible, you can claim £21.15 per week for your first child and £14 per week for any additional child, with payments made every four weeks.
Over the year, if you have just one child, this would amount to more than £1,000.
In total, Turn2Us claims 503,000 families are missing out on unclaimed child benefit payments that total £775million.
This works out at an average payment of around £1,540 per family - although in reality, this figure will vary widely depending on how many children you have.
Who is eligible for child benefit?
To claim child benefit, you need to live in the UK and be responsible for someone under the age of 16, or under 20 if they’re in approved education or training.
This applies to children who are fostered and adopted, and in certain circumstances where you're looking after a child for a friend or relative.
To be considered as being responsible for a child, you usually need to live with them or be paying at least the same amount as child benefit towards looking after them.
This could mean, for example, paying for their food, clothes or pocket money.
You can claim for multiple children, but if two people look after the child or children, only one person can claim child benefit.
If you foster a child, you can claim child benefit as long as the local council is not paying anything towards their accommodation or maintenance.
Or if you are adopting a child, you can apply for the benefit as soon as any child you’re adopting comes to live with you - although in certain circumstances you can start claiming before this.
If you or your partner earn over £50,000, you can still claim child benefit but you may be liable for a tax charge.
What happens to my child benefit if circumstances change?
If you’ve got an existing claim, your benefit payment may be affected if your child goes into hospital for more than 12 weeks, or care for more than eight weeks.
Or if your child goes to live with someone else, you’ll continue to get child benefit for eight weeks - as long as no one else claims it.
Child benefit also continues for 20 weeks if 16 or 17 year olds leave education or training and register with the armed services or a government-sponsored careers service.
You’ll stop receiving child benefit if your child:
- Starts paid work for 24 hours or more a week and is no longer in approved education or training
- Starts an apprenticeship in England
- Starts getting certain benefits in their own right
How to claim child benefit
You can claim child benefit as soon as you’ve registered the birth of your child, or they come to live with you.
To start your claim, you'll need to fill in child benefit claim form CH2 and send it to the Child Benefit Office.
The address is: Child Benefit Office (GB), Washington, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE88 1ZD.
If your child is adopted, you'll need to send their original adoption certificate with the form.
Sonya Ruparel, director of programmes and partnerships at Turn2us, said: "There is an endemic issue of unclaimed benefits in the UK.
"The confusing, sometimes hostile, and often stigmatising world of social security has led to millions of people not claiming their entitlements."
