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In most cases, your dealings with the Child Benefit Office should be easy and cause you no difficulties or inconvenience. However, mistakes and delays can happen, or you may feel unhappy with how you have been dealt with. Whatever the problem, you have the right to complain about poor service.
If you've had a bad experience, let the Child Benefit Office know as soon as possible. You may want to complain about:
The Child Benefit Office is keen to learn from errors and put things right as quickly as possible.
You can make a complaint:
When you complain, make sure you provide, or are ready to give:
Give as much detail as you can about your complaint, including:
The Child Benefit Office will look at your concerns and contact you - normally within 15 working days. They try to resolve most complaints at this stage.
If you're unhappy with the response from the Child Benefit Office, you can ask the Director's Complaints Team to look at your complaint again. You can do this:
You will need to provide:
If you're still unhappy
If you're unhappy with the Director's decision you can ask the Adjudicator to look into your complaint. The Adjudicator is a fair and unbiased referee whose recommendations are independent.
The Adjudicator will only look at your complaint after you have first tried to resolve it with the Child Benefit Office.
You can also ask any MP to refer your case to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman will normally expect you to have had your complaint considered by the Child Benefit Office and the Adjudicator before they will consider your case.
You can also ask your MP to take up your case with the HM Revenue & Customs or Treasury Ministers.
The Child Benefit Office is keen to help you if you need to complain, and will deal with you in a friendly and professional way.
They will:
You may be able to claim back reasonable costs caused by the Child Benefit Office's mistakes. For example:
The Child Benefit Office may make a small payment to you if:
Provided by HM Revenue and Customs