Confused about Child Benefit

[Hopkirk]

My wife and I get child benefit, and thought that we would continue to get this as neither of us are higher rate tax payers.

However we have just received a letter from the HMRC Tax Credit Office saying they are not renewing our claim for tax credits as the income level for tax credits for most people is now £42000.

Can anyone explain what's going on?

[Hopkirk]

I'm feeling a bit sick that we may not have been getting CB - apparently you can't claim back more than 3 months.

I bet I am not the only one in thecountry to be confued by these two similar things.

Was child tax credit being paid 18 years ago, as I'm sure we were getting something then?

[ummmm]

Ok...I get ya. I think it came in in the late 60's early 70's. Beforehand the main breadwinner got the allowance. They then changed it as some main breadwinners (men) didn't pass it on to the families and drank it in the pub. It was then switched to the main carer (women) and paid directly to them...

So your scenario makes perfect sense :-)

[karenmac60]

You put in one claim for child benefit when your child is born, you have to apply for tax credits every year. On your bank statements, Hopkirk, child benefit will be listed with a number followed by CHB, whereas tax credits will just say WORK AND CHILD TC.

[karenmac60]

Child Benefit has been paid for a long time H - it used to be called Family Allowance.

[Hopkirk]

I'll ask 'er indoors, as I am not allowed to see her statements. We don't have a joint account.

[sara3]

Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits were introduced in 2003.

[Hopkirk]

Thanks Sara, we must be getting CB aswell then.

[sara3]

I would think you probably are, and will be until said child leaves school/college.

[dotty.]

Marty this is going to sound abit mean of me, but if you really have no idea whether you've been getting child benefit or not, I would be inclined to think that, even though you are entitled to it, you perhaps have never relied on it the way some people, including myself, have had to do in the past, when my eldest (he's 30 this year) was first at high school, i used to have to queue at the post office at 8.30 every monday morning to wait to cash the book to get his school bus fare, as did lots of other mums and dads, and he wa soften late on a monday morning getting to school,. it wasn't paid monthly into a bank account then, it was paid weekly over the post office counter.

[mike11111]

Many years ago I worked at the central office which handled child benefit for the whole of the UK, then called Family Allowance. The rate then was nothing for the first child, 40p per week for the second child and 50p for each subsequent one. How times have changed!

[Hopkirk]

Dotty, believe me we need every penny we can get our hands on.

[dotty.]

50p a week? do you mean 10s?

[dotty.]

I think when i first claimed it in 1981 it was £5.25 a week

[mike11111]

Yes, 8s for the second child and 10s for each one after that. I converted to new money as many people now are unfamiliar with real money.

[droopdrawers]

In 1956 Family Allowance was only paid for the second and subsequent children @ 5/- [25p] a week.

I only had one child so didn't qualify!

Times have sure changed.

DD