{"id":435959,"date":"2025-09-19T11:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/435959\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T11:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:35:15","slug":"hmrc-say-six-month-delay-in-child-benefit-claims-was-an-error-that-has-been-fixed-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/435959\/","title":{"rendered":"HMRC say six month delay in child benefit claims was an \u2018error\u2019 that has been fixed \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A parent in Northern Ireland has been told to wait six months before their child benefit application is processed.<\/p>\n

When checking the progress of their application with HMRC online, the parent was given a reply date of March 12 next year. <\/p>\n

Families in Northern Ireland eligible for Child Benefit are entitled to \u00a326.05 a week for their first or only child, equating to \u00a31,354.60 a year.<\/p>\n

For each additional child, the weekly rate is \u00a317.25 or \u00a3897 per year.<\/p>\n

\"Buses<\/a>\"Student<\/a><\/p>\n

The benefit is typically paid every four weeks into a bank account and there is no limit on the number of children parents can claim for.<\/p>\n

If claimants or their partner earn between \u00a360,000 and \u00a380,000, the higher earner will be subject to a High Income Child Benefit Charge, with families able to use the online Child Benefit tax calculator.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne parent in Northern Ireland was told they would need to wait until March for a reply on their application. <\/p>\n

Responding, an HMRC spokesperson said: \u201cOnline claims can be processed in as little as three days and are backdated to the date they were made as a minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018Where\u2019s My Reply tool\u2019 on GOV.UK reflects the longest time people can expect to wait.<\/p>\n

HMRC added that an error with the tool had caused the timescales to be wrong but this has now been fixed. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In a separate development this week, MPs in Westminster backed the first stage of legislation to scrap the two-child benefit cap.<\/a><\/p>\n

While phrased in the same way, this is different to child benefits as it applies to the limit for low-income families claiming Universal Credit or Tax Credits – meaning in most cases they cannot claim for more than two children.<\/p>\n

Introduced by a previous Conservative Government in 2015, the motion was introduced by the SNP\u2019s Kirsty Blackman who called the policy \u201ccruel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland MPs backing the vote included the SDLP\u2019s Claire Hanna and Colum Eastwood, Ulster Unionist Robin Swann, the DUP\u2019s Jim Shannon and TUV leader Jim Allister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A parent in Northern Ireland has been told to wait six months before their child benefit application is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[12674,1700,387,1016,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-435959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-benefit","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-families","11":"tag-hmrc","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115230758873155957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}