HMRC has written to the Treasury Committee about the risk for households where one parent does not work, due to childcare commitments, while the other parent works and is also the Child Benefit claimant.
Registering for Child Benefit builds up State Pension entitlement for parents of children under 12 who do not already pay National Insurance contributions (e.g. because they decide to stay at home to look after their children). If the parent doesn’t register for Child Benefit, they may forgo their National Insurance credits, and therefore part of their future State Pension.
New data provided to the Treasury Committee by HMRC and published today for the first time estimates that of the 7.9 million households in the UK receiving Child Benefit, around three per cent – over 200,000 households – may not be benefitting from National Insurance credits because the Child Benefit is claimed by the higher earner in the household.
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