One week warning for millions of parents who risk losing £1,152 a year
Millions of parents and guardians could see their Child Benefit stopped at the end of November.
The majority of UK parents are eligible to claim Child Benefit, which is a monthly payment worth £24 a week for your first child, then £15.90 a week for any additional child you may have. It is normally available to parents if they have a child under the age of 16.
However, you may be able to keep on claiming until your child turns 20 if they are in approved education or training. This can include A-Levels, NVQs or even home education, but it does not include university or BTEC qualifications.
When your child leaves approved education or training, payments will stop at the end of February, May 31, August 31 or November 30, whichever comes first. You may be able to apply for an extension for 20 weeks if your child leaves approved education or training and either:
- Registers with their local careers service, Connexions (or a similar organisation in Northern Ireland, the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein)
- Signs up to join the armed forces
But if they are carrying on in education, you need to let the Government know, so you can carry on receiving your payments. Parents
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For your kid’s plans to count as education, they must be engaged in a full-time course (over 12 hours a week on average) of supervised study or course-related experience. Your child must also be younger than 19 when they are accepted on the course, which can include:
A-levels or similar, for example Pre-U, International Baccalaureate
T levels
Scottish Highers
NVQs and other vocational qualifications up to level 3
home education - if it started before your child turned 16 or after 16 if they have special needs
traineeships in England
What is Child Benefit - and am I eligible?
Child Benefit is a monthly payment from the government which goes towards helping childcare costs. Claiming it also gets you National Insurance credits, which will count towards your state pension.
For your first child, parents can claim £24 per week, amounting to £96 per month and £1,248 a year. Additional children will be permitted an extra £15.90 per week - £63.60 per month and £826.80 a year.
Those living in the UK and responsible for a child under 16 can usually qualify for Child Benefit, as can those for a child under 20 who is in approved education or training. If there are two or more parents/carers who are responsible for the child, only one can claim the benefit.
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If you live with the child or pay at least the same as the Child Benefit amount towards looking after them -such as for food, clothes and pocket money - you count as being responsible for them. If a child goes into hospital, care, or goes to live with someone else, your eligibility will change.
If your child does move out to live with a friend or relative, you will continue getting Child Benefit for eight weeks - providing the new carer doesn’t make the claim. You can continue to claim it for longer if you are still sending money for your child’s care.
Foster parents, adoptive parents and legal guardians are all also eligible for the benefit - but the child must always be living with them. Foster parents can claim only if the council isn’t paying anything towards their accommodation or maintenance already.
If you leave the UK to go on holiday or for treatment you will only be able to claim for a short time. Anyone unsure about their eligibility after reading can contact the Child Benefit Office for clarification.
High Income Child Benefit charge - what is it?
Any parents or carers earning over £50,000 will have to pay the high income Child Benefit charge - meaning 1% of your Child Benefit is paid back for every £100 of income earned over the £50,000 threshold. This means that once you have reached £60,000 of yearly income, you have to repay the entire Child Benefit amount.
It’s important to stay on top of this rule - as parents can be caught out and be landed huge bills when they are not aware of how Child Benefit works. It is the parents duty to warn HMRC if they are liable for the charge - and it is paid through a self-assessment tax return.
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