my daughter is 17 and has left college, when would her child benefit end?? does the benefit office automatically find out or does her mum have to tell them ?
Hello Richard39
Thank you for your recent post. I am William, the Child Maintenance Options consultant.
Child Benefit is payable for a child under 16 or under 20 if they stay in full-time education. You can find more information about when Child Benefit stops from the following link: https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-16-19/your-child-leaves-education-or-training.
If you wish to contact the Child Benefit office directly to find out if payments will stop automatically, you can find their contact details from the following link: https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-number.
To find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help you, you can visit our website at: http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, If you would prefer a friendly and confidential chat, please give the team a call on 0800 988 0988.
I hope this helps
Sarah
I think it's down to the mother to inform them Richard. It's not a very satisfactory system, if she has left college it's the resident parents duty to inform the relevant authority of the change. In the eyes of the CSA, if she continues to receive child benefit then the non resident parent continues to be liable for child maintenance.
As far as I know, when the school year finishes in June/July the payments continue until September, I don't know if this applies if the child leaves before the end of term.
If you know that your daughter is no longer in full time education but the mother continues to claim, the only redress you would have is to report her for fraud. Or at least tell her that she is breaking the law and it either stops or you will report her!
The onus is on the resident parent to inform Child Benefit that your Daughter is no longer in further education, child benefit will inform the resident parent when Child Benefit will stop and will forward this information onto the CSA, so when your Daughters Child Benefit stops, you stop paying maintenance. That is of course if the resident parent inform Child Benefit of a change in circumstances.
Dates when Child Benefit stops if the child leaves further education are as follows:
Stolen from HMRC.
Your child leaves education or training after 31 August following their 16th birthday
Your child might carry on in education or training, but leave at a later date - for example at age 18 or 19. Your payments will normally carry on from the time they leave until the week that includes the earliest of these dates:
the last day of February
31 May
31 August
30 November
If maintenance is still being paid and you know it shouldn't be then you need to either discuss it with your Ex or report her for Benefit Fraud as nannyjane posted.
Regards
Liam
Read my post and experiences located here http://www.dad.info/dad-talk-forum/child-maintenance/31309-csa-payments-and-deceitful-ex-partner it may give you some ideas as to which route to pursue.
Kind Regards
Liam