Victory for mums after five-year This is Money child benefit campaign
Victory for mothers after five years of This is Money campaign! The government FINALLY agrees to solve the child benefit fiasco where parents are denied valuable AOW credits
Victory: We campaigned for change
Mothers are gaining valuable state pensions in a massive government crisis, after years of avoiding a This is Money campaign on behalf of families.
Innocent child support mistakes mean many parents would lose tens of thousands of pounds in old age, but until now their pleas have been ignored.
The Ministry of Finance announced today that it intends to do something about the fact that parents who have not applied for child benefit may miss out on the accrual of their state pension.
Victoria Atkins, Treasury finance secretary, said: ‘Those affected will be able to claim retroactive National Insurance credit in the future as ministers take steps to address this issue.
‘The cabinet wants to prevent parents who have not claimed child benefit from being disadvantaged when they apply for state pension and is announcing a resolution for affected parents.
‘Parents don’t have to take immediate action. The government intends to enact legislation to allow eligible persons to retroactively claim National Insurance credit, and the next steps to be taken will be published in due course.”
Former Pensions Secretary Steve Webb, who has been lobbying alongside This is Money since we launched our campaign in 2018, said today’s announcement was very welcome.
‘While it is understandable that some parents choose not to claim child benefit, it is essential that this does not damage their state pension.
“Until now, the problem was that there was a three-month time limit for backdating child support applications, meaning the damage would be permanent.”
“I am delighted that the government has finally listened to campaigners and plans to implement changes that will boost the state pensions of thousands of parents, and especially many mothers who might otherwise have missed out.”
Webb, who is a partner at LCP, launched a high-profile petition in 2018 demanding the full retroactive effect of mothers’ retirement assets.
But the government rejected his call, arguing that it is too difficult to verify applications for child benefit older than three months.
Meanwhile, the government’s internal tax guru, the Office of Tax Simplification, said in a report released four years ago that it was “unreasonable” for parents to lose their state pension due to child benefit mistakes they can’t correct later. correct.
However, no action has been taken on this.