Hi, I'm supporting a friend of mine who has a chronically ill daughter and is struggling to find support. Being disabled through illness myself I am helping her with what I know already, but there are some things I don't know, such as....

Her daughter recently turned 16. She has taken a year out of college because she is too ill to go. She isn't working nor is she looking for work, so her mum is still supporting her financially. But her Child Benefit has been stopped because she has turned 16 and isn't in education. I'm sure this can't be right, but I can't find anything on the government info about Child Benefit and illness.

Does anyone know if she should be getting Child Benefit still? Or if they will need to appeal? Need to know how to advise her on this one.

Thank you for your help

(07-13-2011 03:10 PM)smelison76 Wrote:  Hi, I'm supporting a friend of mine who has a chronically ill daughter and is struggling to find support. Being disabled through illness myself I am helping her with what I know already, but there are some things I don't know, such as....

Her daughter recently turned 16. She has taken a year out of college because she is too ill to go. She isn't working nor is she looking for work, so her mum is still supporting her financially. But her Child Benefit has been stopped because she has turned 16 and isn't in education. I'm sure this can't be right, but I can't find anything on the government info about Child Benefit and illness.

Does anyone know if she should be getting Child Benefit still? Or if they will need to appeal? Need to know how to advise her on this one.

Thank you for your help

I think this is correct as your friends daughter would be old enough to claim benefits in her own right.
If you dont mind me asking what is the illness/condition?
Im wondering if DLA is in place and also if the teenager would be able to claim benefits as well?
It could be that your friend is actually looking at the picture and thinking we could be worse off when in fact there is every chance there is additional support which may well mean the child benefit loss wont be a bad thing at all
Look forward to hearing from you

Daniel is right. After a child has completed year 11 at school then you only get child benefit and child tax credits if the child stays in full time education. After missing years of school with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, my oldest had to leave sixth form part way through as he was too ill to complete his A levels. The child benefit and tax credits were stopped straight away and he had to claim Employment and Support Allowance in his own right. He also gets his DLA paid to his own bank account now so we had to negotiate how much of his money was paid to me for his keep as I lost about £150 a week when they started paying it all to him. Make sure your friend knows she needs to contact the Tax Credits office as well or she could end up owing them money.

But, if your friends daughter gets DLA in her own right, her mum, may, if she earns less than £100 a week, claim carers allowance, which is in fact more than child benefit.