FAQ - Child benefit

[Will]

Originally posted by Kaf:

The leaflet giving details of UK child benefit entitlement when in France is from the benefits agency and is SA29: Your social security insurance, benefits and health care rights in the EC, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The relevant section re child benefit is Para 21 and says "If you are in the UK or another EC country and you are employed or self-employed in a job in which you must pay contributions under the UK scheme...... you can usually get UK child benefit for your children even if they are living in another EC country."
It goes on to say that if you are paying into another EC country's insurance scheme the child benefit will normally be payable by that country, even if the child stays in the UK. It further says that if the two parents are both working in different EC countries, the benfit is normally payable in the country where the child resides.
Therefore, if you fulfil the contributions conditions it seems that the only time that the place of the residence of the child is relevant is when there are two different countries' insurance schemes involved.
But as others have stressed, you must advise the authorities of your change in circumstances; you cannot just continue to claim benefit regardless.