Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert site has issued a clarion call for Child Benefit claimants to act now or their payments could stop.
The payments support thousands of parents in helping cover their costs for raising their children, providing £25.60 a week for the eldest or only child and £16.95 a week for each additional child.
Child Benefit is worth up to £1,331 a year for the first or only child, and up to £881 a year for each additional child. Payments will automatically stop on 31 August on or after the child has turned 16 unless parents renew their claim where their child is continuing in education.
But this support could suddenly stop if you don’t take action over the next couple of weeks.
The latest edition of the Money Saving Expert newsletter explains: “Child turned 16 & in full-time education or training? Act NOW to avoid losing child benefit. To keep getting your payments, contact HM Revenue & Customs by August 31.”
The payments go out to parents or guardians with children aged under 16 but once they turn 16, you can still get the payments if they are in education or training until the age of 20.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent more than 1.4 million Child Benefit reconfirmation letters to parents between 24 May and 17 July this year. The letters included a QR code which, when scanned, directs them straight to GOV.UK to update their claim online.
To keep getting the benefit, people have to apply again by August 31, as the payments will usually stop on this date after the child’s 16th birthday.
HMRC should send out a letter to a claimant when their child is about to turn 16 with information about how to reapply. A person can also reapply online on the HMRC website.
Child Benefit is usually paid every four weeks and claimants with children under 12 automatically get Class 3 National Insurance credits, to help towards their state pension.
A person usually needs 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full new state pension, which is currently £221.20 a week.
The Government has recently been criticised for not scrapping the two-child cap on benefits, which applies to means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit.
A proposal was recently put forward for an increase in Universal Credit payments for parents, which could boost payments by more than £620 a month.
Labour MP Chris Hinchliff asked the Government to consider bringing in “a child element of Universal Credit of (i) £287.92, (ii) £191.95 and (iii) £143.96 for (A) third and (B) further children”.
A claimant receiving all three of these extra payments would enjoy a 623.83 a month boost to their claim, worth £7,485.96 a year.
Work and pensions minister, Alison McGovern, said in response: “We are committed to tackling child poverty and are introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school to ensure children are fed a nutritious breakfast and are ready to learn.
“The new ministerial taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the opportunity mission.
“After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin and we will publish a full terms of reference in the coming weeks.
“We will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.”
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