In this section:
- How to claim Child Benefit
- Child Benefit claim form
- Help with the Child Benefit claim form
- Child Benefit and birth and adoption certificates
- Finding your Child Benefit number or proving you qualify
- How claiming Child Benefit can protect your State Pension
- More than one claim for Child Benefit for the same child
- Getting Child Benefit on behalf of someone else
How to claim Child Benefit
The only way to claim Child Benefit is to fill in a Child Benefit claim form and send it to the Child Benefit Office along with your child's birth or adoption certificate. You can't claim over the phone or the Internet.
Where to get the claim form
There are several ways of getting a claim form. You can:
- Get one from the 'Bounty Pack' that's given to new mothers in hospital.
- Fill in a Child Benefit claim form on screen and print it out - you'll still need to send it to the Child Benefit Office. Although the form currently shows April 2007 in a number of places you can still use this form to make your claim. The date does not affect how you complete the form or whether you qualify for Child Benefit.
- Print out a blank Child Benefit claim form and fill it in by hand.
Before you complete the claim form, please read the accompanying notes that will help you fill it in.
Get a Child Benefit claim form to fill in on screen and print out (PDF 715K)
Get a blank Child Benefit claim form to print out (PDF 116K)
Get a Welsh Child Benefit claim form to fill in on screen and print out (PDF 945K)
Help with the Child Benefit claim form
If you have problems getting a claim form, and are calling from the UK, please 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 to claim Child Benefit
We can only backdate your Child Benefit for up to three months from the date we get your claim. So it's best to make your claim straight away to avoid losing money.
You should claim Child Benefit as soon as:
- your child is born
- a child you're responsible for comes to live with you
- you adopt a child who's living with you
- you start paying towards the cost of looking after your child unless they live with someone else who's already getting Child Benefit
If your child has died and you want to claim Child Benefit for them, you should do so within three months of the date your child died.
More about Child Benefit if your child dies
Who can claim?
Anyone who's bringing up a child can claim. This is usually the mother, but it doesn't have to be.
Paperwork you'll need
You'll need one of the following certificates for your child when you claim:
- a birth certificate
- a birth certificate you get after adoption
- an adoption certificate
This must be the original and not a copy.
If you haven't got the certificate, send us your claim form anyway. We'll ask you to send us the certificate later.
You don't need to send us certificates for any of your children that you (or someone else) have had Child Benefit for in the past.
Child Benefit and birth and adoption certificates
What to do next
Once you've completed your claim form, send it along with the certificate,
to:
Child Benefit Office (Washington)
Freepost
NEA 10463
PO Box 133
Washington
NE38 7BR
