In this section:
- Child Benefit rates
- When is your next Child Benefit payment due?
- When to expect your first Child Benefit payment
- Understanding your Child Benefit Award Notice
- Child Benefit payments stopped or gone down?
- How Child Benefit, tax credits and Guardian's Allowance are paid
- How to change your bank account details for Child Benefit payments
- Child Benefit overpayments
- You haven't received your usual Child Benefit payment
When to expect your first Child Benefit payment
We aim to let you know the outcome of your claim and pay you within seven to eight weeks of getting your claim form. You can often get your first payment within two weeks.
What happens once you've made your claim?
When we receive your Child Benefit claim we'll work out whether you qualify for Child Benefit. Once we've worked this out, we'll send you an 'Award Notice' telling you how much you'll be paid and when you're going to get it. It's possible that you might get your first payment before your Award Notice arrives.
If we cannot work out straightaway whether you qualify, we will get in touch with you for more information.
If you're a new arrival to the UK
There are special rules for paying Child Benefit to people who have just arrived in the UK. To get Child Benefit, you need to be 'ordinarily resident' in the UK. We'll need to check things like where you intend to live and make sure you have the 'right to reside' in the UK. So it may take a little while for us to check whether you qualify.
If this applies to you, you may have to wait a bit longer before you get your first Child Benefit payment.
New arrivals to the UK and Child Benefit
If you want to check on the progress of your claim
If you think your first payment is taking longer than it should, you can check on your claim's progress by contacting the Child Benefit Office. You can do this by sending us your query online.
Alternatively, you can call 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 live outside the UK you can call on Tel + 44 161 210 3086.
You can also write to us to check on you claim's progress at:
Child Benefit Office
PO Box 1
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE88 1AA
We can reply in a special format if you ask us to, such as Braille, audio cassette or large print.
Send us your Child Benefit query online
