One person in a household can claim Child Benefit for bringing up a child. Claims can be made for children under 16 (or under 20 if in education/training).
Child Benefit rates are calculated weekly and are paid every four weeks - currently £24.00 for the eldest/only child, and £15.90 for each additional child with no upper limit on number of children. Next week rates rise to £25.60 for the eldest and £16.95 for each additional child.
Earlier this month, as part of his Budget, the Chancellor promised to abolish the High Income Child Benefit Charge from April 2026 - but recognising the need to make provisions to help struggling families he introduced some changes starting next week.
At the moment households have to repay some or all of the Child Benefit they receive if one partner earns more than the higher rate income tax threshold - equivalent generally to a gross income of £50,000. The exact calculation is to repay one percent of the Child Benefit for every £100 earned over £50,000 - with the entire Benefit to be repaid if the income goes over £60,000.
The only concessions to the gross income figure used for most people are post-tax pension contributions and gift aid and these can be used to reduce the income figure used in the calculation of the charge.
Starting next month there will be two major changes:
- The threshold at which a high earning partner can become liable to the charge rises by £10,000, so the minimum amount one partner has to earn to have to repay some or all Child Benefit will be £60,000.
- The amount to be repaid will be based on one percent of Child Benefit for every £200 earned over £60,000. This means one partner in the household would have to earn at least £80,000 for the entire Child Benefit to be repaid.
You can use the calculator below to quickly work out how much High Income Child Benefit Charge you may have to pay: