I missed this.
We (both dual US/UK citizens) registered our newborn son for Child Benefit, it was approved and we've started receiving payments. All good there. What I'm not completely clear on is the part about getting National Insurance credits for any weeks you miss due to caring for a child under 12. I made the claim in my name, and put my wife's name and NI number in the section about partner's details, but does anyone know whether both parents get NI credits. It would be logical that they would, but the letter I received from the Child Benefit office seems to suggest that only the main applicant gets credits and I couldn't find any specific documentation to confirm one way or the other. Any advice is appreciated!
No, only one parent gets the NI credit (towards a UK state pension), usually the mother as she is the one recovering from the pregancy and birth. They expect the father to be working and therefore paying their own NI contributions. They need the NINo of the other partner because of the individual income cap on claiming CB.
If both of you are working and paying your own NICs, then it doesn't matter who has their name of the CB claim as you won't get the NI credit via the CB claim, because you are paying your own contributions for that tax year.
To get the NI credits, the CB claim needs to be in the name of the person who is not working, or is not working enough hours to pay NICs. If you are working and your wife is not, then ask them to change the CB claim to her name. If neither of you are working enough hours to pay NICs, then choose which one can have their name on the CB claim and therefore the NI credits towards their UK state pension.
This is why when a couple has a stay at home parent and the other is earning over the CB cap, the stay at home parent still claims the CB. That worker parent then has to complete an in-time Self Assessment with HMRC (they are fined if they don't) and will end up returning the CB money they had; but the stay at home parent gets the NI credit towards their UK state pension.
The UK state pension is now only based on our own NI contribuitons.
It's all explained on the government site
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/overview
