Child benefit at twice the basic rate for a child living at home who needs extensive care

If you have a child living at home who needs extensive care, you can get child benefit at twice the basic rate providing your child is aged 3 or older, and under 18. The SVB does not have the expertise to assess a child’s care needs. Instead, we ask the Care Needs Assessment Centre (CIZ) to make this assessment and give us their opinion.

Unfortunately, due to a delay at the CIZ, it will take more than 8 weeks before you receive a decision from us. We will send you a letter about the delay, giving the date by which you can expect to receive a decision.

  1. Step 1: You submit the claim to us

    Child benefit at twice the basic rate can only be claimed by the person who has claimed child benefit at the basic rate.

  2. Step 2: We ask the CIZ to carry out an assessment

    The CIZ will proceed to assess your child’s care needs

  3. Step 3: You fill in the forms the CIZ sends you

    The CIZ will ask you to fill in an information form and an authorisation form within 4 weeks. You will also be asked to provide information relating to your child’s illness or disorder.

  4. Step 4: You receive a confirmation letter from the CIZ

    After the CIZ has received the necessary information and completed forms from you, they will send you a letter within 7 days to confirm that they are processing your child’s case.

  5. Step 5: The CIZ formulates its opinion.

    The CIZ makes a thorough assessment of your child’s situation. They will phone you if they need any additional information. They will also phone you if they think they may have to give a negative opinion.

  6. Step 6: You will receive a letter from the CIZ

    The letter will inform you of the CIZ’s opinion.

  7. Step 7: The CIZ sends their opinion to the SVB online

  8. Step 8: We decide whether or not you can receive child benefit at twice the basic rate.

    Unfortunately, due to a delay at the CIZ, it will take more than 8 weeks before you receive a decision from us. We will send you a letter about the delay, giving the date by which you can expect to receive a decision.

The CIZ will send you a form asking for details of your child’s illness or disorder. If they need additional information about your child, they will tell you about this when they call you to discuss the details you gave on the form.

The CIZ may also have additional questions for care providers, such as support workers, treatment providers or care farms. If so, the CIZ will send you an authorisation form to obtain your permission first. All of the information the CIZ gathers will be used to form the official CIZ opinion that they send to us.

The CIZ divides the possible care needs into 10 sections and gives points for each section. Based on the total number of points, the CIZ gives a positive or a negative opinion. You can get child benefit at twice the basic rate if the opinion is positive, but not if it is negative.

If you want to know how your child’s care needs are assessed, go to the CIZ website and download the PDF ‘Beoordelingskader’ (assessment framework) on the page ‘Wat is intensieve zorg’ (what is meant by extensive care) (only available in Dutch).

If you have received child benefit at twice the basic rate for a full year because of your child’s extensive care needs, you may be able to get an extra yearly payment.

See whether it would be worthwhile to submit a claim

If your child needs a lot of care and you want to know whether you may be eligible for child benefit at twice the basic rate, fill in the questions below.

More information