Postal strike – how it affects tax credits and Child Benefit payments
You may have heard Royal Mail workers are currently taking industrial action. This action is on-going and will cause disruption to postal services nationwide. Most customers will not be affected as we pay their money directly into their account. However, we are doing all we can to minimise the impact on the small number of customers who get their money paid by cheque.
Who may be affected?
You may be affected if you normally get your tax credit or Child Benefit money paid to you by cheque.
You will not be affected if your money is paid directly into a:
- bank account
- building society account
- Post Office card account
What should you do if your payment has not arrived?
We have posted your payment to you as normal. If it has not arrived yet because of this post strike our advice is to please allow a few extra days for it to be delivered to you.
If you haven’t got your tax credits payment and you can’t meet your essential living expenses, call our helpline and speak to an adviser on:
- Tel 0845 300 3900
- Textphone 0845 300 3909 - if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment
What will happen to claim forms and other information sent by post?
We will process your claim for tax credits or Child Benefit as soon as possible once your claim form is received.
We will also deal with any information you have sent by post as soon as possible once it is received.
Other ways of getting your money:
To find out more information about how you can get your money in other ways please follow this link:
Find out more about how Child Benefit, tax credits and Guardian’s Allowance are paid
How the strike may affect other benefits you get
If you get other benefit payments paid by cheque from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) those payments could be affected too.
You can find out more about what this means for you by going to the Directgov website.
Information on the postal strike and affect on DWP benefits on the Directgov website (Opens new window)
