Children's Handbook Scotland 2020/21Chapter 7: Children living with kinship carers3. Benefits and tax credits if a child is not looked after Child benefit and guardian’s allowance
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Child benefit and guardian’s allowance
Child benefit
When a child joins your household, someone else may already be claiming child benefit for her/him. There are rules that determine whose claim takes priority if there are competing claims.1Sch 10 SSCBA 1992 The person with whom the child lives normally has priority, and this means you should get child benefit if you are the kinship carer for a non-looked-after child. However, if someone else is getting child benefit for the child when you make your claim, s/he will retain priority over you for three weeks after you make your claim.2Sch 10(1) and (2) SSCBA 1992 This means that you will not normally become entitled to child benefit until three weeks after the week in which you claim (for child benefit purposes, a week starts on a Monday3s147 SSCBA 1992). The only exception to this rule is if the other person gives up her/his entitlement at an earlier date.4Sch 10 SSCBA 1992; reg 15 CB Regs
Example
Dot starts caring full time for her grandson, Adam, on 9 August 2020. Before this, Adam was living with his mum, Kate, but she is no longer able to look after him. Dot claims child benefit for Adam on 21 August 2020, but because Kate is still getting child benefit and does not give up her entitlement, Dot does not become entitled until Monday 14 September 2020.
Even if your claim has priority, you cannot receive child benefit for a period when it has already been paid to someone else for the same child, unless:5s13(2) SSAA 1992; reg 38 CB Regs
    •HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or, if the decision has been made following an appeal, the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal, has decided that the child benefit paid is recoverable because the person has failed to disclose or has misrepresented a ‘material fact’ and no appeal against that decision has been made within the time limit; or
    •even though HMRC decided the benefit was not recoverable or has not made a decision on its recoverablity, the money has been repaid.
Once you are getting child benefit for a child, you can keep getting it during a period when the child is living temporarily away from you, provided that period is not for more than eight weeks out of the last 16.6s143(2) SSCBA 1992
The effect of local authority payments
Child benefit is not affected by any payment you receive from the local authority.
 
1     Sch 10 SSCBA 1992 »
2     Sch 10(1) and (2) SSCBA 1992 »
3     s147 SSCBA 1992 »
4     Sch 10 SSCBA 1992; reg 15 CB Regs »
5     s13(2) SSAA 1992; reg 38 CB Regs »
6     s143(2) SSCBA 1992 »
Guardian’s allowance
You can get guardian’s allowance if you satisfy the rules on here. Guardian’s allowance is not affected by any payment you receive from the local authority.