Child Benefit and National Insurance Contributions

[LM2104]

So when our eldest daughter was born we put the Child Benefit in OH's name. Don't know why just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now it turns out that whilst he has been working and I have been at home with the children I have paid no National Insurance contributions because the Child Benefit has been in his name and eventually this will effect my pension!

I did not know this, did you? I feel completely stupid now.

We have been advised to cancel our youngest daughter from the claim and claim for her in my name and leave the eldest in OH's name.

What alot of hassle!

 

[Rachel_C]

Yeah I did realise, I'm pretty sure it says it on all the bumf you get with the claim form but they could probably have made it clearer - most people probably claim while they're still in a daze from having a new baby! They have made it a bit clearer since the changes came into effect because we're not entitled to receive the money any more but they still advise you to fill in the form and let them tell you you're not entitled to the money, so that you still get the NI contributions in your name, I think.

 

[Vesta]

I didn't know that. I knew that your national insurance contributions for your pension are covered for a certain period, but I didn't know it was related to my child benefit claim. Thankfully the claim is under my my name anyway.

 

[Pearls18]

Wow no I didn't know this, it was in my name anyway but strange it's not more better advertised really.

 

[Rachel_C]

This is what it says on the notes accompanying the claim form:

https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/ch2-2007-notes.pdf

Who should claim Child Benefit?
You should fill in this claim form if you are responsible for a child. You do not need to be the parent of the child and you may be entitled to Child Benefit even if the child does not live with you. Only one person can receive Child Benefit for a child. If you or your partner already get Child Benefit, the same person normally claims for any new children.

If you are bringing up children you may not be working or paying a National Insurance contribution. If you get Child Benefit for a child under the age of 12 you will receive weekly National Insurance credits to protect your future entitlement to the basic State Pension and the State Second Pension.

If you are a couple and one of you works and pays National Insurance contributions and the other one stays at home to care for the child, the person who is not working could protect their State Pension by claiming Child Benefit.

It is important to complete the Child Benefit claim form even if you don’t want to be paid as this can help to protect your future rights to State Pension and help your child get their National Insurance number.

Other things you might need to know
National Insurance (NI) credits
Before 6 April 2010, if you received Child Benefit for a child under 16, you automatically qualified for a scheme called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP), which helped to protect your State Pension.

From 6 April 2010, for each week that you are entitled to Child Benefit for a child under 12, you will receive weekly NI credits to protect your future entitlement to State Pension.

If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010, any complete tax years of HRP you have already built up before 2010 will be converted into qualifying years. Up to 22 years of HRP can be converted into qualifying years for State Pension.

and it's written in a big box on the form now too (https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/ch2-online.pdf)

It's a pretty good idea anyway!

 

[Pearls18]

I didn't read the form, I was just like "money please" haha. Kidding, I pay into a pension anyways so isn't a big deal to me but goes to show we should read everything lol....!

 

[wishuwerehere]

It'll only affect your state pension if you don't have enough qualifying years when you retire - i think it's 30 years of paying ni/ni credits to qualify. So depends how old you are/how long you worked before baby/if you intend to go back. You can request your ni records, can't remember exactly how but i did it online. That way you can see how many qualifying years you already have.

 

[LM2104]

I ave some money pid into a pension from before my kids were born and I fully intend to work again before retirement age but just wanted it to be known

 

[Stacey_Ann]

I did know but only learnt that when I started working for DWP, else I'd have had no idea lol!