How are the child benefit rules changing?

More families will be able to claim child benefit from April after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt increased the amount you can earn before the benefit starts to be withdrawn.

The government says the change will help 170,000 families.

You can get child benefit if you're responsible for bringing up a child who is:

Only one person can claim child benefit for a child. There is no limit to how many children you can claim for.

At the moment child benefit is worth:

You can find out how much child benefit you may be entitled to at the moment by using the government calculator.

From 6 April 2024, it is going up to:

Child benefit is usually paid into a nominated bank account every four weeks.

But if you're a single parent or receive certain other benefits, such as universal credit, you can receive the money weekly.

The rules apply across the whole of the UK.

Since 2013, child benefit claims have been decided by parental income.

They lose 1% of child benefit for every extra £100 of salary, meaning once they earn £60,000, they don't receive any child benefit at all.

Parents who fail to inform the tax authorities when they start earning more than the threshold can be fined, although the number of fines has fallen considerably.

The number peaked at 47,862 in 2015-16, but only 67 people were fined in 2020-21.

For example, two parents who each earn £50,000 - giving them an overall household income of £100,000 - can claim the full benefit, whereas a single parent earning £60,000 gets nothing.

Mr Hunt has also announced a consultation about letting HMRC collect information about all the adults in a house. This would mean that from April 2026, child benefit claims would be based on total household income - a move that has been broadly welcomed.

You can claim child benefit 48 hours after you've registered a birth, or as soon as a child comes to live with you.

If you claim at a later point, payments can be backdated for up to three months.

You need the following documents:

Claiming child benefit for a child under the age of 12 means you automatically get National Insurance (NI) credits, which count towards your state pension.

These credits can help fill gaps in your NI record if you're not working or if you don't earn enough to pay NI contributions.

The government advises that you should still fill in the child benefit claim form, even if you opt out of getting payments, so that you can get NI credits.

Doing so also means your child will automatically get an NI number when they turn 16. Otherwise they will have to apply for one.

If a family splits up, the amount of child benefit paid depends on how many children there are, and where they live.

If you have two children and one stays with each parent, you would both get £24 a week for each child.

If you share custody of one or more children, only one of you can claim child benefit for them.

The eldest will still be entitled to £24 and any younger children will get £15.90 each.

If two families join together, the eldest child in the new family qualifies for the higher rate, and any other eligible children get the smaller amount.