- Voluntary organisations - how to act for your Child Benefit client
- Getting Child Benefit on behalf of someone else
- Form for an intermediary to act on someone's behalf
Voluntary organisations - how to act for your Child Benefit client
Some people - often known as clients - might ask you to deal with their Child Benefit on their behalf. You usually need to have your client's authority to act on their behalf but not if you want to give them general advice.
On this page:
- When you need to be authorised to act
- What can you do on your client's behalf?
- How to get authorisation
- What happens before you're authorised?
- What happens after you're authorised?
- Contact the Child Benefit Office
- More useful links
When you need to be authorised to act
You need to be authorised if you:
- want to ask the Child Benefit Office for specific information regarding the person whose Child Benefit you are dealing with
- want to give specific information to the Child Benefit Office about the person whose Child Benefit you are dealing with
You do not need to be authorised if you only want general Child Benefit advice. A lot of general Child Benefit advice is available online by following the link below.
Get general Child Benefit advice
What can you do on your client’s behalf?
You will be able to discuss your client’s Child Benefit claim with the Child Benefit Office and also provide information about them.
You will not be able to get:
- Child Benefit payments on your client’s behalf - unless you have been authorised to act as an ‘appointee’
- any award notices or other decision notices - unless you have been authorised to act as an ‘appointee’ or an ‘agent’
How to get authorisation
Your client will usually need to fill in form TC689 Authority for an intermediary to act on your behalf. Once they have completed their parts of the form they should give it to you to fill in your details.
Your client will then need to send it to the Tax Credit Office - it must be the original, not a photocopy. The address is on the form. The Tax Credit Office takes the relevant details and then sends the form to the Child Benefit Office.
If you are dealing with a lot of Child Benefit queries you may want to register as an 'intermediary organisation' with the Tax Credit Office’s External Relations Team. This will allow you to contact the Child Benefit Office urgently for advice and will help them deal very quickly with any queries you may have. To register you need to write to:
Floor 2
West Wing
St Mary’s House
St Mary’s Street
PRESTON
PR1 4AT
What happens before you’re authorised?
You will not be able to act until:
- the Tax Credit Office has received your client’s authorisation form
- the Child Benefit Office has received their Child Benefit claim
Until then, your client will need to deal directly with the Child Benefit Office instead. If your client doesn’t have English as a first language they can contact the Child Benefit Helpline and ask to get advice through an interpreter.
What happens after you’re authorised?
Once you’re authorised, you can expect the following to happen:
- If you need to call the Child Benefit Helpline you will need to be able to answer a number of security questions about your client and about yourself. This is to make sure the Child Benefit Helpline is dealing with the right customer and the right intermediary and that they’re not breaking confidentiality rules.
- You can deal with your client's Child Benefit affairs on their behalf until your authorisation runs out. This is usually 12 months after your client has signed the TC689, but it can be earlier if they have entered a different end date on the form.
Contact the Child Benefit Office
If you need more help you can call the Child Benefit Helpline which is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The numbers you can ring are:
- Tel 0845 302 1444
- Textphone 0845 302 1474 - if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment
- Tel 0845 302 1489 - if your preferred language is Welsh
- Tel + 44 161 210 3086 if you're calling from outside the UK.
