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Support for children

lmac86

Hi,

Looking for some advice.

I have 3 children. 18, 15 and 1 year 10 month.
My eldest is now at university, so I understand I no longer qualify for support for her, however, I have a new statement today and have noticed I am only getting support for one child out of three. Surely I should get support for two? I don’t understand.

Thanks

Laura.

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lmac86

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. So I went on to my claim, incase that was the case, but all three children are there. Of course no one is getting back to me on my journal and phoning didn’t get me anywhere either, just got told someone will call. It’s stressing me out.

Rachel_Scope

Hi @lmac86. Here's some information about the rules around Child Element. It says that you'll only get support for your first and second child, unless you were claiming for 3 children before 6 April 2017. I wonder if this is what's happened as your youngest was born after 2017 so you wouldn't get support for them unless special circumstances apply.

lmac86

I got sent a change of circumstances to complete regarding the level of study etc. I knew you only get child element for 2 children but surely now my oldest is now an adult and I still have 2 fully dependent on me, I should receive support for both? I will now be in extreme financial difficultly with this change of only getting support for 1 of my children. Unfortunately I have ill health that preventing me from working at the moment. So I have already been so stressed and had a lot of money worries.

lmac86

@Rachel_scope

Rachel_Scope

Thanks for sharing. Have you got the link for that @lmac86 please? It seems they'd need to assess whether the youngest child would 'fall into an exception'. It's something I'm still learning about and it's incredibly confusing. Hopefully someone else who has experience of this will be able to share their advice 😊

lmac86

it doesn’t make sense to me that they would still class an adult as your first entitlement to child element when they’re an adult at university studying a degree. I am still financially responsible for 3 kids but only getting support element for 1? Makes no sense at all. I got that via the link you sent me.

Rachel_Scope

Oh I'll read a bit further into it, thanks. It doesn't make sense, I agree. Will you let us know when they call you to explain?

lmac86

I will. Just wish it was clearer. It’s ridiculous that it’s this confusing causing so much stress and worry.

poppy123456

When were sent the change of circumstances to complete? and what was the date of the last day of your most recent assessment period?

I'm thinking maybe there wasn't enough of time to add the element for your 3rd child on the claim.

lmac86

I was sent the request and completed it on 13th September and my assessment period ended yesterday, so statement today, where I discovered this. I was expecting that my money wouldn’t change as I would still be entitled to support for the 2 youngest. My youngest child has been on my claim since she was born last November, but I was aware I wasn’t entitled to support for her.

poppy123456

If your 2nd child was born after April 6th April 2017 then you'll only be entitled to the 2 lower child elements, whereas previously for your eldest you would have been receiving £333.33/month.

When you put the message onto your journal, did you put it under the payment section? The only reason I can think of that they haven't included the child element is because they weren't able to verify that child in time for your statement.

lmac86

so, I was receiving support for my 2 eldest, but due to my 18 year old starting uni, I lost the payment for her, which I understand and I am not disputing. I thought this change would then mean I would receive support for my youngest, as my eldest is now an adult and should no longer be a child on my claim?

lmac86

I have spoken to UC over the phone and apparently there is a call back arranged for me with a case manager. I don’t understand why they would need to verify my youngest when she’s been on my claim since birth.

lmac86

my second child was born 2009

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/916183#Comment_916183

We have already confirmed that you're entitled to the child element for your youngest child. I wish I could give you a definite reason why it wasn't included in your statement but unfortunately I can't.

I'm afraid you will need to wait for the case manager to ring you. You will receive what is owed once your statement is recalculated. Hopefully that won't be too long.

lmac86

Ah ok. It was just someone else had commented saying I wasn’t entitled to support for my youngest because of the 2 child rule after 2017. So I am entitled to support for 2 kids and it’s clearly an error. I will update the thread of what the case manager says.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/916236#Comment_916236

That was my comment and you misunderstood what I said. I was asking when your 2nd child was born because the child element amount for a child born before 6th April 2017 is a higher amount for the eldest child on your claim. This is why I was asking you when they were born because if it was after that date then you wouldn't have been entitled to one of the higher elements of £333.33.

I didn't say you weren't entitled to the child element for your youngest child. You can see my comment here. Although it's irrelevant now because you confirmed they were born in 2009.

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/916179#Comment_916179

lmac86

it wasn’t you. The comment was made prior to your first comment. It was Rachel, she was basically saying regardless of my eldest now being an adult, she is classed as child one and therefore I would not be entitled to any support for my third child, only my second, which doesn’t make sense. I am aware and understand child element and how it is paid, which is why I asked for advice, as my statement does not correspond with said guidelines.

lmac86

That makes perfect sense. Thanks so much.

I wish these things were explained.

Jimm_Alumni

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/916307#Comment_916307

Sorry for the confusion that was caused. It's not all straightforward is it. We are lucky that we have people with such incredible knowledge of the intricacies of the benefits system.