“They’ve cut money to any third, fourth or fifth child in a family, unless the mother can prove that she was raped when that child was conceived.”
Leanne Wood AM, 4 May 2017
Recent changes to Child Tax Credit mean you won’t get money per child for more than two children if the third child was born after 6 April 2017. There are five exceptions to this cap, including one for non-consensual conception of a child. For that exception a criminal conviction for rape doesn’t need to be proved but evidence of non-consensual sex does need to be provided.
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Ms Wood was referring to recent changes to Child Tax Credit
From 6 April 2017 you won’t get the child element of Child Tax Credit for more than two children who were born after that date.
There are five exceptions to this limit, including for children born as a the result of non-consensual conception— this means the cap doesn't apply to children born from non-consensual sex.
The lack of consent to sex can be because the relationship was controlling or abusive, which meant the victim didn’t have the “freedom or capacity” to say no.
What does the exception for non-consensual conception require a claimant to prove?
First, you can’t claim this exception if you live with the other parent of the child.
Second, there doesn't need to be a court case or criminal conviction relating to the non-consensual sex or abusive relationship. So the criminal offence of rape doesn’t have to be proved.
You have to provide one of three forms of evidence of non-consensual conception:
- Evidence of a conviction for rape, controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship, or a similar crime abroad, that related to the conception of the child.
- Proof of a compensation award for a crime relating to the conception of the child. This is money paid by the government to victims of violent crime for harm caused by the crime.
- A statement from someone on a list of approved professions and organisations.
It’s unclear what evidence exactly is required for the first two categories and we have asked for further guidance from HMRC.
The HMRC guidance on this exception states that claimants don’t need to speak to or give details of conception to HMRC staff, although they do have to fill in a form.
For individuals with a statement (the third form of evidence) they only have to fill in their basic details such as name and address, the professional fills out the rest.
For individuals providing either of the first two types of evidence it’s not clear if that evidence is to be directly provided by the claimant on the form or a third party. We’ve asked HMRC to clarify.
The Victim Support team can be contacted 24/7 on 08 08 16 89 11 or by email here.