Child Benefit Guide And Updates

By fpp on August 2, 2017 in Uncategorized

Child Benefit Overview And What You’ll Get
How To Claim Child Benefit

Child Benefit Eligibility
Child Tax Credits

1 Child Benefit Overview

You get Child Benefit if you’re responsible for a child under 16 (or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training).

Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child.

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

You may have to pay a tax charge if your or your partner’s individual income is over £50,000.

You can choose not to get Child Benefit payments, but you should still fill in the claim form because:

it will help you get National Insurance Credits which count towards your State Pension

want it will ensure your child is registered to get a National Insurance number when they’re 16 years old

2 Child Benefit – What You’ll Get

Who the Allowance is For

Eldest or only child

Additional children

Rate (weekly)

£20.70 for the eldest or only child

£13.70 per additional child

You must contact the Child Benefit Office if you’re paid too much or too little.

| You could get Guardian’s Allowance if you’re bringing up someone else’s child because one or both parents have died. It’s paid on top of Child Benefit.

If families split or join together

If a family splits up, you get £20.70 a week for the eldest child who stays with you.

| Example – If you have 2 children and one of them stays with you, you’ll get £20.70 a week for them. If your ex-partner claims for the other child, they’ll get £20.70 a week for that child. If you both claim for the same child, only one of you will get Child Benefit for them.

If 2 families join together, the eldest child in the new family qualifies for the £20.70 rate. If you’re entitled to Child Benefit for any other children, you’ll get the £13.70 rate for each of them.You might get more if you’re a carer, severely disabled or have certain housing costs.

How and when Child Benefit is paid

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

You can get the money paid into any account, apart from a Nationwide Building Society account in someone else’s name. You can only get the money paid into one account.

Incomes over £50,000

You may have to pay a tax charge if you or your partner’s individual income is over £50,000. This is known as the ‘High Income Child Benefit Charge’.

Use this Child Benefit tax calculator to estimate how much tax you may have to pay.

The benefit cap

The benefit cap limits the amount of benefit that most people aged 16 to 64 can get. Some individual benefits aren’t affected, but it may affect the total amount of benefit you get.

Child Benefit and your State Pension

If your child is under 12 and you’re not working or don’t earn enough to pay National Insurance contributions, Child Benefit can help you qualify for National Insurance credits.

These credits count towards your State Pension. They protect it by making sure you don’t have gaps in your National Insurance record.

Next – Child Benefit Eligibility >