Did you stop it when you left, or giving yourselves time to decide if you like your new country?
How long is "deciding time" legal?

Stopped ours before we left the UK, also closed the account that the CB was paid into too.

C x

As far as i know there is no "deciding time". Once you and the children are removed from the UK to Oz you are no longer entitled and would be fraud if you continued to receive the payment.
I have informed the CHB about my imminent departure from the UK. When i spoke to the helpful lady on the phone she told me that they would send me a letter confirming that i am no longer in receipt of Uk CHB, so when i get to Oz i can claim CHB on the Oz system and that they would ask me for this letter when applying.

Hope this helps,
Kind Regards

Jo x


counting the days now!!!!

I think it depends on what Visa you are on, if you are PR then correct you are not entitled to claim Uk child benefit but if you are on a 457 on a time length contract with a permanant residence property in the UK, you can claim it. I think...

If not Im sure someone will advise correctly.
P..........................

We were never ask for a letter here in Australia C x

We did not get asked for a letter either, in fact not a single question about the UK.

Neither did we, so now I'm scared they'll want all the money back?!

Au has a reciprocal agreement with Uk for most things including child benefit.
As long as you are not claiming UK child benefit and AU child benefit at the same time there will be no problem.
If you claiming in Uk and you are entiltled and should be doing it in Au no money will need to paid back however you will need to seek advise from AU chb dpt to clarify this and start using the AU system.
Of course if you are claiming in both and you get caught, then its immediate deportation back to blighty and lock up in the Tower of London....

Thanx,
We never thought about telling the officials to stop CB because it was at the bottom of our requirements!!
I recently received a Bank statement and saw the payments and felt guilty!
Should I stop it before repayments??!!

If you aren't resident in the UK why should you get child benefit from there? It is supposed to stop the day you leave as you are no longer entitled to it once you are no longer a resident. SImple as that.

Whether you are PR or 457 is in reality unimportant. If you are in Oz you no longer reside in the UK and therefore are not eligible to claim it. I'm pretty sure a lot of people quite genuinely forget about it and don't cancel it for a while, but the government will be within their rights to take measures to get it back.

Yet another thing unfortunately to add to the 'to do' list before people leave the UK.

Exactly. I shan't link to the thread itself where I found it, cos it got quite abusive, but THIS is the document people should be reading

If they find out then yes they will want the lot back. It is fraud and you should have told them you were leaving.

You are very very wrong. No reciprocal agreement and the OP is committing fraud by continuing to claim.

I was told that you could legally claim for 1 year after leaving but you cannot start claiming for a year after you return (If you return of course !)
Need to double check now !!

Alison xx