At the end of the year, it will all balance out. After my tax returns etc.
As I was not expecting it, and had given up (last month, I was just about ready to phone the towel in) , any amount is a bonus, and having the fight end was even more of a bonus. I guess the message is, do not give up when fighting beaurocacy, common sense prevails.

Seems like the UK child benefit office have started to see sense, I too have been told that this month I will recieve all of my child allowance backdated from the time I entered Switzerland for my daughters from my previous marriage. I am also getting the next installment for my sons from my current partnership.

Like upthehatters I ended up going directly to the Director of the agency and threatening legal action.

What you need to quote in the letter to the UK agency is EEC 1408/71 article 84, which obliges them to share information with the Swiss GEFAK as though they are the same office.

I agree totally, never give up.

If you are working or claiming unemployment benefit, you will have no trouble claiming for your natural children living abroad. You need to prove with birth certificates that they are indeed your children. I believe adopted children living abroad are not covered.

As already mentioned, any payments already made by an EU country will be deducted.

Each Canton will have a different administration, so you need to find out where to make your claim, contact the social services in your village to find out where. The office will then inform your employer. You must then repeat this process if you move to another canton!

Sbrinz, I agree in principle that it should be no trouble, but it has taken two years for the UK office to pass the info on. The problem with my case, was that they paid a claim they shouldn't have as my current partner doesn't work and the one they should for my daughters from my first marriage they refused to give information for under the data protection act.

Just as a point of information too, if your current partner lives in the UK with the children but doesn't work they cannot claim the UK child Benefit, it all has to be claimed by the parent over here that is working. This is under the priority payment rules.

hi,
is there a similar "rule" for nationals of NON-EU/EFTA countries?

Not that I am aware of.

There are countries (as mine - Israel) which hold mutual agreements regarding aspects of social security. You can check with your home country.

Possibly you are right, but then you will receive the whole amount retroactively, which means a lot of money.

Hope this is the right thread...but I need to see if I heard wrong or not - but a relative spposedly gets 300 CHF per child, while I get 200 (in the same canton). Would that be possible? I thought 200 CHF was the limit.

Ill start receiving one soon (when we get the birth cert. translated). Will let know then...

It could vary because of the age of the child. It could vary because their employer is also 'chipping in' a bit extra....

We have documents that are issued to us from the Canton (Zurich) that very clearly set out the amount we get per child, and the validity dates for the payment (the amount changes according to their birthdate). When the Canton changes the amount, then we get a new notification...

You can - we were thinking of sending the better half and the children back to the UK because of some serious schooling issues here. My accountant confirmed that it was possible to receive the child benefit here if the children went back to the UK. Practicalities may be different.

We are in the process of claiming for the time when I was still in Belgium with our son but OH was working here. We are entitled but getting all the paperwork required is a total nightmare.Hopefully we are now over the last hurdle and will be receiving it soon (backdated to April 2009)