Child Benefit 2026/27: Rates, Who Can Claim and the Charge

You normally qualify for Child Benefit if you are responsible for a child under 16 and you live in the UK. You are usually responsible for a child if you live with them, or if you pay at least the same amount as Child Benefit (or the equivalent in kind) towards looking after them, for example on food, clothes or pocket money.

Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child. If you and someone else are responsible for the same child, agree between yourselves who will claim. If you cannot agree, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will decide.

If you are under 16, you can claim for your own child, or someone responsible for you can claim for them on your behalf. You will usually get more if you claim yourself.

If your child is 16 or over

You can get Child Benefit until your child turns 20 if they are in certain types of education or training, they are accepted onto the course before they turn 19 and they do not get Universal Credit. You must tell HMRC about their education or training, and only the person claiming Child Benefit can do this.

Full-time non-advanced education counts. That includes A levels or similar, T levels, GCSEs, Scottish Highers, NVQs and most vocational qualifications up to level 3, and home education. Full time means more than an average of 12 hours a week of supervised study or course-related work experience. A university degree, a BTEC Higher National Certificate or a pre-degree course such as a foundation diploma or an access to higher education course does not count.

An unpaid approved training course counts too. In Wales that includes Traineeships and the Jobs Growth Wales+ scheme, in Scotland the No One Left Behind programme, and in Northern Ireland the PEACEPLUS Youth Programme 3.2, Training for Success or Skills for Life and Work. An apprenticeship does not count.

Your Child Benefit stops automatically on 31 August on or after your child's 16th birthday if they leave education or training, or if you do not tell HMRC that they are staying. If a 16 or 17 year old leaves education or training and registers with a careers service or the armed services, you can apply for Child Benefit to continue for 20 weeks.

Fostering, adopting and looking after someone else's child

• ✓Yes: Fostering: you get Child Benefit if you foster a child, as long as the local council is not paying anything towards their accommodation or maintenance.
• ✓Yes: Adopting: you can claim Child Benefit as soon as a child you are adopting comes to live with you. You do not have to wait until the adoption process is complete.
• ✓Yes: Someone else's child: you may be able to get Child Benefit if you have an informal arrangement to look after a friend or relative's child. You might not qualify if your local council is paying towards the child's accommodation or maintenance.

Child Benefit is usually paid every 4 weeks on a Monday or Tuesday. You can have the money paid weekly if you are a single parent or getting certain other benefits, such as Universal Credit.

• Eldest or only child: £27.05 a week
• Each additional child: £17.90 a week

A family with two children gets £44.95 a week, or £2,337.40 a year. These are the rates for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.

• If a family splits up, you get £27.05 a week for the eldest child. If you have 2 children and one lives with you and the other lives with someone else, for example your ex-partner, you each get £27.05 a week.
• If you move in with a partner who also claims Child Benefit, you get £27.05 for the eldest child in the household and £17.90 for any younger children.
• If you live together, you cannot both claim at the higher rate. You may have to pay back some of the money if you do.

You must report any change of circumstances to the Child Benefit Office.

You or your partner may have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge if either of you receives Child Benefit and at least one of you earns more than the threshold. It means you pay some or all of your Child Benefit back.

The threshold is an individual income of over £60,000 for tax years starting from 2024 to 2025. For tax years up to and including 2023 to 2024 it was over £50,000. Your income for this test is your adjusted net income: your total taxable income, which includes savings interest and dividends, calculated before any Personal Allowances and less certain tax reliefs, such as pension contributions and Gift Aid.

• You pay back 1% of your Child Benefit for every £200 you earn over £60,000.
• If you earn over £80,000, you pay it all back.
• The charge will not be more than the amount you get from Child Benefit payments.
• For the 2023 to 2024 tax year and earlier, you paid back 1% for every £100 you earned over £50,000.

The Child Benefit tax calculator on GOV.UK works out whether your adjusted net income is over the threshold, and if it is, how much charge you would have to pay.

Get the payments and pay the charge, or opt out

If your income is over the threshold, you can choose to get Child Benefit payments and pay the tax charge, or opt out of getting payments and not pay the tax charge. You can opt out or restart your payments at any time.

Still make the claim: If you opt out of payments, you are still registered for Child Benefit. You would not have to pay the tax charge and you would still get National Insurance credits, which count towards your State Pension, and a National Insurance number for your child without them having to apply.

You can opt out online, by phone or by post. You cannot opt out of payments if you are using them to pay back an overpayment. You must pay any tax charge owed for each tax year up to the date your payments stop.

How to pay the charge

There are two ways to pay the charge: through PAYE or through Self Assessment. You must use Self Assessment if you need to send a tax return for another reason, for example if you become self-employed, or if it is later than 31 January in the year after the tax year you need to pay for. You may get a penalty if you need to pay through Self Assessment but do not register for it or do not declare Child Benefit on your tax return.

Whoever claims gets National Insurance credits towards their State Pension. You and your partner can claim for different children. Our benefits guides cover the rest.

• National Insurance credits: you get National Insurance credits automatically if you claim Child Benefit and your child is under 12. They count towards your State Pension, so you do not have gaps in your National Insurance record if you are not working or do not earn enough to pay National Insurance contributions.
• If you do not need the credits, your partner can apply to transfer them, or a different family member who provides care for your child can apply for Specified Adult Childcare credits.
• Benefit cap: any Child Benefit payments you get count towards the benefit cap. If you are affected by the cap, you still get the full amount for your Child Benefit payments but your other benefits may be reduced.

Child Benefit proves you or your partner support another child, so you may pay less child maintenance for children not living with you. Our guide to the Child Maintenance Service has the detail. It also covers how child maintenance payments are reviewed.

You can have Child Benefit paid weekly if you get Universal Credit. You stop getting Child Benefit if your child starts getting certain benefits in their own right, such as Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit.

You must report any change of circumstances to the Child Benefit Office. That includes changes to your family life, for example getting married, and changes to your child's life, for example leaving education or training. You will stop getting Child Benefit if your child starts paid work for 24 hours or more a week and is no longer in approved education or training, starts an apprenticeship in England, or starts getting certain benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit.

You can be paid too much Child Benefit if you do not report a change in your circumstances, and you will usually have to pay it back. If you think you have been paid too much, contact the Child Benefit Office straight away.

HMRC can suspend payment of Child Benefit, in whole or in part, where an issue arises as to whether the entitlement conditions are or were met, where the last address it holds for you is not where you live, or where your bank account details are incorrect. If it asks you for information or evidence, you must provide it within one month of the request, or a longer period if HMRC accepts you need it.

If you disagree with a decision, you can challenge it. This is called asking for mandatory reconsideration.

You can also complain to the Child Benefit Office if you are unhappy with the way you have been treated. More on the two stages above: mandatory reconsideration and benefit appeals.