- 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
- Bank holidays and Child Benefit payments
- 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
- You haven't received your usual Child Benefit payment
You haven't received your usual Child Benefit payment
If your usual Child Benefit payment doesn't turn up or isn't paid into your account when you expect it, there's a number of things you can do to check what's happened to it.
On this page:
- Why you may not have got your usual payment
- Payment over bank holidays
- Tracking down your payment
- If the Child Benefit Office has made a mistake
- Can you get a replacement payment?
- Keeping the Child Benefit Office up to date
Why you may not have got your usual payment
You may not have got your Child Benefit payment because:
- the Child Benefit Office sent your cheque to the wrong address - this may have happened if you've recently moved and forgotten to tell them your new address
- your bank, building society or Post Office® card account details have changed and you haven't told the Child Benefit Office
- the Child Benefit Office has stopped your payment
Payment over bank holidays
If your payment is due on a bank holiday you will get this a little earlier than normal, usually the last working day before the bank holiday. It is worth checking to see if the payment has already been paid into your account.
Find out more about bank holidays and Child Benefit payments
Tracking down your payment
There may be a simple explanation of why you haven't got your payment. You should double-check to see if the payment is now in your account. It may be late because the electronic banking system may not be quite up to date.
If the payment's not in your account, you need to contact the Child Benefit Office to see if they've made the payment and that they have the right account details. If they haven't made it, they'll tell you why not and will sort it out as soon as possible.
If the Child Benefit Office issued a cheque and you haven't received it, they'll treat it as lost, stolen or not received. They'll also need to confirm your address.
You can check what's happened to your payment by contacting the Child Benefit Office online, following the link below. Alternatively you can contact the Child Benefit Office Helpline on Tel 0845 302 1444 or Textphone 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.
Send us an online query to check what's happened to your Child Benefit payment
If the Child Benefit Office has stopped your payments
It's possible that the Child Benefit Office has stopped your payments. For example, this could be because they can't contact you, or you have not told them that your child is staying on in education or training that qualifies for Child Benefit.
Find out why your Child Benefit payments may have stopped or gone down
Child Benefit if your child is in further education or training
If the Child Benefit Office has made a mistake
The Child Benefit Office will let you know if they've made a mistake and they'll put things right. If they decide to reissue the payment they'll either:
- pay it into your account, normally within four working days
- send you a cheque by first class post, which you should get the next day
Can you get a replacement payment?
If the Child Benefit Office has made the payment but it hasn't gone into your account, you will only be able to get a replacement if the original payment has been returned.
Keeping the Child Benefit Office up to date
You must tell the Child Benefit Office about changes to your account details or address as soon as possible. If you don't, your Child Benefit payments may be delayed or stop altogether.
Find out how to change your bank account details for Child Benefit payments
