In this section:
- Problems with your Child Benefit - where to start
- How to complain to the Child Benefit Office
- Appealing against a Child Benefit decision
- You haven't received your usual Child Benefit payment
Appealing against a Child Benefit decision
If you're not happy with a Child Benefit decision, you may have the right to appeal. You'll normally have to appeal within one month of when the Child Benefit Office sent you their decision.
Before you appeal
Before you make an appeal, you can ask the Child Benefit Office for an explanation of their decision. If you're unhappy with their explanation, you can ask them to have another look at your case. If you still don't agree with their new decision, you can appeal.
Your right of appeal
You have the right to appeal against a decision made by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers.
How do you know if you can appeal
The decision letter the Child Benefit Office sent you will tell you if you can appeal against the decision. For example it may be a decision on:
- the date you've been awarded your benefit from
- whether the Child Benefit Office consider you and your child usually live in the UK
Who can appeal
Usually the person who made the claim or who's been getting the Child Benefit makes the appeal. But you can ask an independent adviser to do it for you. If you're an appointee and claim Child Benefit for someone else, you can make the appeal for them.
Deadline for appeals
Normally, you have to appeal within one month of when the Child Benefit Office sent you their decision. In special cases they'll give you more time but you must tell them your reason for making a late appeal.
They can't accept an appeal dated 13 months or more after they sent their decision.
How to appeal
Your appeal needs to be put in writing and you can do this in one of the following ways:
- send the Child Benefit Office a letter
- send the Child Benefit Office a completed form CH24A Appeal Form
You must say in your appeal what you think is wrong.
You will need to send your letter or completed form CH24A to:
Child Benefit Office
PO Box 1
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE88 1AA
What happens next?
If the Child Benefit Office hasn't already given you an explanation of their decision, they'll do this when they get your appeal. If you're happy with the explanation you'll need to withdraw your appeal.
If you still do not agree and the decision can't be changed in your favour, the Child Benefit Office will send your appeal to an independent tribunal.
The tribunal will be run by one of the following, depending on where you live:
- for England, Scotland and Wales – the Tribunals Service
- for Northern Ireland – the Appeals Service
The Child Benefit Office will set out their response to your appeal, which will explain the law and the facts they used to make their decision. They will also send you or your representative a copy of their response.
If you want to know what happens after you've sent your appeal to the tribunal you can get more information from the relevant websites by following the links below.
Find out more about the Tribunals Service on their website
More about appeals in Northern Ireland on the Department for Social Development website
If your circumstances change
If anything changes that could affect your payments, you must let the Child Benefit Office know straight away. Don't wait for the appeal hearing.
Find out which Child Benefit changes you need to report
Withdrawing your appeal
You might decide to withdraw your appeal because:
- you're happy with the Child Benefit Office's explanation of the decision
- you agree with a new decision
- your circumstances changed and this affected your Child Benefit
You can withdraw your appeal at any time by:
- sending in a completed form CH29
- writing to the Child Benefit Office
- contacting the Appeals or Tribunals Service dealing with your appeal, if your appeal has been sent to them
Contacting the Child Benefit Office
You can contact the Child Benefit Office online by following the link below. Alternatively you can contact the Child Benefit Helpline on Tel 0845 302 1444 or textphone Tel 0845 302 1474. The Helpline is open between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm, seven days a week, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
If your preferred language is Welsh you can call on Tel 0845 302 1489, and if you're calling from outside the UK Tel + 44 161 210 3086.
When you contact the Helpline you'll need to tell them your:
- full name
- Child Benefit number
- National Insurance number
- daytime phone number and if possible the best time you can be contacted
