I got a letter from council today to give address proof. They have asked for one document from group 1 and one from group 2. I can understand group 1 which is council tax proof etc., which is actually address but group 2 i am surprised, it asks for a letter from child benefit office (for not receiving benefit!) or letter confirming medical or dental appointment..

As I do not have these documents, do I have to create one!...I mean why is this asked for address proof?

can I get an medical appointment for my son just for this sake now, and give that letter,will that suffice?

confused!!!

This has come up before on the forum. Even if you don’t get CB anymore I think you can still get a letter from them if you ask (someone on here has done that I believe). It might take some time to come through.
Otherwise you could ask the GPs surgery or dentist for help first, rather than making an appointment. You may have to pay for a letter.

Personally I don’t think a letter from the GP or dentist is worth the paper it is written on, as they are only stating what you have told them.

CB will do letters for you but as Tinkers says this can take time.

re the GP letter, what they actually need is confirmation that the child is registered with the GP at the address you are stating. You may be able to ask the practice manager to do this for you - but they are still likely to charge as it is not NHS work. Can imagine they won't be too please if they are getting hordes of people wanting GANFYDs at the same time!

I’m in the same situation. My son has a junior isa (I transferred it from CTF) and this isn’t even mentioned as a proof. Plus we only get annual statements so the one we have is just over 6 months (by 2weeks!). He has an upcoming dental appointment in January so I might call the dentist and ask for an appointment letter to be posted to us but I can’t really see how this can be proof of address. Surely anyone can register with a private dentist and give any address - my dentist has never asked for proof of address.

Hi Dremma

I suspect that is correct - the thing about NHS dentists and GPs is that they will have the NHS number and the registered address.

Whole thing is crackers - no-one has to have child benefit or be registered with a GP or dentist

I’m glad Reading didn’t do this. We don’t get CB, DD doesn’t go to an NHS dentist as wasn’t one around that would takes us when she was younger.

She hasn’t actually set foot in the GP surgery since she was nearly 5.

Whilst it might be a minor inconvenience to gather the information required, it is not overly tricky if you actually live where you say you do. And this is, after all, the point. WARWICKSHIRE - and other counties - had to introduce these checks and balances following a spare of fraudulent address applications which, effectively denied a WARWICKSHIRE child their rightful place in a school.

I think all councils should be stringent in their checks. No one who has nothing to hide should be worried - just take a deep breath and speak to your GP etc. (Apologies for the caps on county name - phone does it automatically!)

Probably be better to do anything but except ask the GP - they will probably start thinking ££££ as it is not NHS work.

Definitely!

Is it just 1 from group1 and 1 from group 2?