Child Benefit (Hansard, 18 June 2003)

§ Ms Atherton
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what provisions he plans to ensure that child benefit continues to be paid without interruption to the father of dependent children when his wife dies. [118984]

§ Dawn Primarolo
Where a child benefit claimant dies and their partner wants to claim child benefit instead, he or she needs to make a new claim. They have up to three months to do this and not suffer a break in their right to payment. The Inland Revenue will do all it can, in such cases, to ensure claims are processed as quickly as possible and to maintain continuity of payment.
The surviving partner should also claim child tax credit.

§ Mrs. Calton
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to allow those already in receipt of child benefit and who are eligible for child tax credit to receive the credit without resubmitting information provided for receipt of child benefit. [119522]

§ Dawn Primarolo
To claim child tax credit the claimant, or claimants, are asked to provide their details and those of the children they want to claim for. The child information required has been kept to a minimum. It includes information not relevant for child benefit purposes such as whether disability benefits are received for a child.
Although, in most cases, the person entitled to child benefit for a child will be the same as the recipient of child tax credit for him or her, that is not always the case. So it is right that people should be asked to confirm the details of the children they are claiming for.