child benefit?

[katkin]

Hi to all. I'm currently working as a Portage home Visitor ( a pre-school service for children with developmental delay) I'm working with a family from Pakistan. My question is - can they apply for child benefit? Their understanding is that they cannot as they are not nationals - they have been in the UK for 5 years. As I understand it they cannot apply for DLA unless they receive child benefit. I have looked at the gov't websites but can't find the relevant info. Does anybody out there know, many thanks, Kat

[factor-fiction]

Can you help me with my benefits too?

[themas]

There are various conditions attached to entitlement to Child Benefit. One of these is that the claimant has to be ordinarily resident in the UK and not subject to immigration control -broadly this means they must have no restrictions entered in their passports & no condition that restricts their right to claim public funds. Generally speaking, if they have lived here for 5 years, are working and have NI numbers then they should have no problem. I would suggest they submit a claim and see what happens unless they do have a condition that says they have no recourse to public funds.

I am not aware that Child Benefit has to be in payment in order to claim DLA for a child. Again, submit a claim & see what happens. If there is a query, say that the CB claim has been submitted.

If for any reason they do not have NI numbers the whole thing is more complex, as these are needed in order to claim the benefits.

As well as CB & DLA they could claim tax credits if their income is low enough.

[katkin]

Thanks for that. I spent some time today on the phone to CB and DWP and they both said to submit a claim so I will relay the info back to parents and see.