‘I’m speechless’ mum slates parents for ‘living penny to penny’ as thousands panic about late child benefit payments
CHILD benefit payments have been delayed leaving thousands of parents out of pocket and sharing their frustrations online.
However, one “speechless” mum slated other parents for living “penny to penny” and being so reliant on the payment.
She had responded to a Mumsnet forum post from a panicked parent who said she had been left “so stressed” at the payment delay.
The parent had written: “Although my payments are on Mondays, I receive them Saturday due to my bank, but this week it hasn’t come through.
“No change of address etc and her dad wouldn’t of put a claim in and don’t think i can contact them till monday so stressed at what’s going on.”
While numerous mums were quick to chime in with support and say they were expecting the same delay, not everyone was sympathetic.
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The : “O.....M........G........ 24 pages of comments in less than 48hrs on topic related to benefit payments?
“Even the national expert in money management (Martin Lewis) has been dragged into it! “Looks like half the country is dependent on benefit payment.
“People are living, penny to penny, from Friday to Friday, on child benefit?
“Sometimes I wonder if it is the same country that ruled half the globe?
“Really? I am speechless.
“I appreciate that some of the claims are genuine and necessary, I am not convinced that all are in the same boat.”
She added that she was fully expecting some “abuse” for “speaking up the truth.”
HMRC has confirmed issues with the system that sends the cash directly to bank accounts.
Child benefit is a valuable income top-up for families, worth £25.60 a week for an eldest or only child and £16.95 a week for any other children.
Over 7.65million households claim the free cash, according to the latest data, but not everyone is paid on the same day.
Child benefit is usually paid every 4 weeks on a Monday or Tuesday.
If you're a single parent or receive certain other benefits, such as Universal Credit, you can have the money paid weekly.
Numerous mums said on Mumsnet that they haven't received their cash.
One wrote: “I was going to be using CB today to pay nursery fees!! Todays the last day to pay without getting late payment fees and I now can’t pay them (haven’t got enough in my acc without cb).
How much is child benefit worth?
THERE are two child benefit rates, one for the eldest child and another for younger children.
- You get £21.15 per week for your eldest or only child (£1099.80 a year)
- You get £14 for each of your other children (£728 per year, per child)
- You get the money for each child under 16 (or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training)
- If families split up, how much you'll get for each child depends on how you claim.
- If you have 2 children and one stays with you and the other stays with your ex-partner, you’ll both get £21.15 a week for each child.
- If one parent claims for all the children, you get £21.15 for the eldest and £14 for each younger child.
- Only one household can claim for each child
“Hope HMRC are going to be paying my late payment fees!!”
Another added: “Thousands of people rely on this to feed their kids. It's a cost of living crisis and to leave everyone in the dark like this is cruel.
“I get mine today and mine hasn’t gone in.”
A HMRC spokesperson said: "We are aware some customers' child benefit payments have not arrived and we are working to resolve the issue."
We've asked HMRC when it expects these payments to be released.
It's not yet clear how many are affected by the late payment issue, but the tax office has been inundated with complaints from furious parents on social media.
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Many parents responded to a poll by Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, with around 80% of those saying they had experienced the delay.
Posting on X, Martin said: "It's early, but currently, it looks like 80% of people expecting child benefit payments this morning haven't got it."