You can claim Child Benefit if you’re responsible for a child under the age of 16, or if they are under the age of 20 and still in approved education or training
Thousands of parents will have their Child Benefit payments stopped at the end of this month. Child Benefit is worth £26.05 a week for your first child, then £17.25 for any additional child.
You can claim Child Benefit if you’re responsible for a child under the age of 16, or if they are under the age of 20 and still in approved education or training.
This can include A-Levels, NVQs or even home education, but it does not include university or BTEC qualifications. But when your child leaves their approved education or training, payments will stop at the end of February, May 31, August 31 or November 30, whichever comes first.
This means the next deadline for when Child Benefit payments can stop is May 31. Child Benefit is claimed by more than seven million families.
The child normally has to live with you, or you pay at least the same amount as Child Benefit toward looking after them, in order for you to claim the payments.
You can claim Child Benefit if you fostered a child, as long as the local council is not paying anything towards their accommodation or maintenance, or if you adopted your child.
You may also be entitled if you’re looking after a child for a friend or relative. There is no limit for how many children you can claim Child Benefit for, but if two people look after a child, only one person can claim Child Benefit.
If you, or your partner, are on a high income, then you may have to pay back some of your Child Benefit. If either you earn over £60,000, you have to pay back 1% of your Child Benefit for every £200 you earn over £60,000.
This is known as the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Once you earn over £80,000, you pay back 100% of your Child Benefit. The High Income Child Benefit Charge is normally paid each year by completing a self-assessment tax return.
However, families will soon have the option to pay it through their PAYE tax code, with a new digital service expected to be available from summer 2025.
You can make a claim for Child Benefit without getting the payments, in order to get National Insurance credits which count toward your state pension, if you don’t want to pay the charge.
The threshold for the High Income Child Benefit charge was increased from £50,000 to £60,000 in April 2024. HMRC recently tweeted about the change.
It posted: “Opted out of Child Benefit payments and earn under £80k? You may be missing out on support. The amount you or your partner can earn before you start paying the High Income Child Benefit charge is now £60k.”