Guardian's Allowance is paid to a person responsible for bringing up a child whose parents have died...
Guardian's Allowance is paid to a person responsible for bringing up a child whose parents have died. The benefit is non-contributory, non-income related and is currently paid tax-free.
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Eligibility criteria.
The claimant does not have to be the legal guardian but must be entitled to child benefit for the child or children they make a claim for. To be eligible for child benefit the child must be under the age of 16, or under 19 and still in full-time education. Like guardian's allowance, child benefit is non-contributory, not income-related, and is paid tax free.
Entitlement to guardian's allowance depends on one parent of the child having been born in the UK or having been a resident in the UK for a total of 52 weeks in any two-year period after the age of 16. Any person serving in the armed forces will have all time spent serving abroad counted as time spent in the UK.
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Persons who qualify.
l Any person responsible for a child or children as part of their family because both the child's parents have died.
l Any person looking after a child or children as part of their family because one of their parents has died and the other is serving a prison sentence. The remaining sentence must be in excess of five years from the date of the death of the deceased parent.
l Any person looking after a child as part of their family because one parent has died and the other parent cannot be traced. Where the marriage of the child's parents ends in divorce, one parent has died and the other does not have custody and is under no obligation to provide for the child, this rule is applied.
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Amount payable.
Rates of guardian's allowance effective from 12 April 1999 are.
l £11.35 for each child.
l £9.90 after adjustment where the higher rate of child benefit is being paid for an eldest or only child (see below.
Payment is made weekly by order book payable at the post office. Guardian's allowance will continue to be paid as long as the recipient is receiving child benefit. These amounts will be paid in addition to child benefit amounts shown below. The rates effective from 12 April 1999 are.
l £14.40 for the eldest or only child.
l £ 9.60 for each subsequent child.
l £ 17.10 for the eldest or only child of a lone parent.
Child benefit is a weekly amount but can be paid weekly or monthly.
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Restrictions on benefit.
The following restrictions apply to guardian's allowance.
l A parent cannot claim guardian's allowance. In certain circumstances a step-parent may qualify for the allowance.
l Parents who foster a child cannot claim guardian's allowance if they are receiving an allowance for the child's maintenance from a local authority.
l Adoptive parents cannot claim, how-ever payment can continue if the allowance is awarded prior to an adoption.
l A claim can only be backdated up to a maximum of three months.
l Payment will cease after 12 weeks where a child is admitted to hospital. There is an exception if the claimant can evidence regular expenditure for the child while the child remains in hospital.
l Guardian's allowance is likely to cease when the claimant is no longer eligible to receive child benefit. This suggests that the person is no longer responsible for the child, for example, where a child reaches the age of 16, has completed their education and is in remunerative work for 24 hours or more a week. This will also apply where the child is receiving a youth training allowance.
l A local authority or voluntary organisation cannot claim guardian's allowance for looking after a child.
l A claim will cease should the claimant emigrate. An expatriate may be able to claim guardian's allowance on their return to the UK, provided they are entitled to child benefit.
Anyone who has a claim rejected and feels they have been wrongly assessed can apply for a review of the application. For more information on this, refer to the Department of Social Security.
The amount paid under guardian's allowance may be affected if one of the child's parents is alive and serving a prison sentence. Where the parent is paying maintenance in respect of the child, the payment of guardian's allowance will be reduced by the amount of the maintenance payment. Guardian's allowance payment will be made where maintenance payments are equal to or exceed the benefit rates.
A claimant who is in receipt of social security benefit will not normally receive an increase in the benefit amount for a dependant child while in receipt of guardian's allowance.
A guardian's allowance payment may be reduced for a person receiving a war pension where the amount includes additional payment for the dependant child.
Payment of guardian's allowance is not affected if the claimant is admitted into hospital. While the claimant remains responsible for the child, they will continue to receive benefit. If, for example, a grandparent is receiving benefit and has to go into hospital and the child is looked after by an aunt, the benefit will remain payable to the grandparent until such time that the responsibility changes.
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How to claim.
Claim forms are available from any local benefits agency office. Form BGI should be completed within three months of the date of the claimant's entitlement. This is to take advantage of the fact that claims cannot be backdated more than three months.
Where a married couple are responsible for a welfare of the child or children, the wife should make the claim. The person who makes the claim should be in receipt of child benefit. If this is not the case, a claim for child benefit should be made at the same time.
Jo Armstrong is marketing assistant at Guardian Financial Services.
