Child Benefit
Who can get it and how much you get, plus how to claim
Child Benefit is a monthly payment for anyone with parental responsibilities for children under the age of 16 (or up to 20 in full-time education). It's worth claiming as it can be worth over £20,000 (or more if you've two or more children). We've full detail on how it works, how to claim, and what happens to the Child Benefit payment if you or your partner earn more than £60,000 a year.
What is Child Benefit?
Child Benefit is the Government's way of acknowledging the costs involved in raising a child. It's paid monthly to anyone responsible for children under the age of 16 (or under 20 if they stay in certain full-time education or unpaid training).
How much is Child Benefit?
There Child Benefit rates for 2025/26 are:
For a first-born or only child: £26.05
For additional children: £17.25 per child
This applies even for a multiple birth, so if you have twins born within minutes of each other, you'll still get different amounts for them.
If you've a bigger brood, the individual amount you get for your second and subsequent children will be lower, but the total will be higher.
You'll usually be paid every four weeks, on a Monday or Tuesday, and the whole amount must go into the same account. It can't be split between parents.
While it may not look like a lot of money broken down, it adds up. If you claim for one child until they're 16, you'll get more than £20,000 over their childhood.
Who can get it?
If you (or your partner) earn £60,000 a year or under, you can claim the full entitlement of Child Benefit if the child you're applying for lives with you, or if you're paying at least the same weekly amount as the benefit towards looking after them. For example, you might pay for clothes, food, pocket money or birthday and Christmas gifts. It includes grandparents, adoptive parents and some foster parents.
If two people are responsible for the same child, only one will get the payment. Parents can decide between themselves who receives it – otherwise, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will decide. If the parents live apart, HMRC will give the Child Benefit to the parent the child lives with the most.
Earn more than £60,000? You might have to pay some or all of your Child Benefit back, but it's still worth claiming – see more info on this if you earn over £60,000.
When can I claim Child Benefit?
You can claim Child Benefit as soon as you've registered the birth or the child has come to live with you. It can take up to 16 weeks to process your claim and can only be backdated three months.
How do I claim Child Benefit?
You can claim Child Benefit as soon as you've registered the birth of your child, or a child comes to live with you if you're adopting or fostering.
You'll have to fill in the 'CH2' form and send it to the Child Benefit office. You can do this either online, or download the form from Gov.uk and send it to the address on the form. You can also check if you're eligible and apply through the HMRC app.
If you adopted your child, you need to send their original adoption certificate with the form. If you've lost it, you can order a new one.
If your child's birth was registered in Northern Ireland or outside the UK, you'll need to provide your child's original birth certificate. If you've lost the birth certificate, you can order a new one. If the birth was registered outside the UK, you'll also need to provide the passport used for your child to enter the UK.
You can claim at any age
If you didn't claim Child Benefit when your child was born – either because you earned too much, or you didn't realise you were eligible – it's not too late. You can apply at any age up until 16 (or up to 20 if your child is in qualifying full-time education), following the process above.
However, you will only be able to backdate any claim by three months, not the whole time you've been eligible to claim.
What happens when your child turns 16?
You may still be able to claim Child Benefit even after your child turns 16, provided they remain in approved full-time education or unpaid training. However, this ISN'T automatic.
When your child turns 16, HMRC will send you a letter asking if they're still in full-time education. You'll need to reply, or let HMRC know online, before 31 August after your child's 16th birthday to keep getting your Child Benefit payments.
Approved education includes A-levels, NVQs and home education, but not a university degree or BTEC Higher National Certificate qualifications. Approved training should be unpaid, and includes traineeships, but not training that is part of a job contract.
Once your child's approved education or training comes to an end, benefit payments will come to an automatic stop, at the end of February, May, August or November (whichever is soonest).
You can also get Child Benefit for an extra 20 weeks in some circumstances (for example, if your child joins the armed forces or registers with their local careers service).
Income of £60,000+? Here's what you need to know
If you (or your partner) earn more than £60,000 a year, you will still get the full amount of Child Benefit, but you will have to pay some of it back. This is known as the 'high income Child Benefit tax charge'. The charge is tapered, so the more you earn over £60,000, the more you need to pay back.
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For every £200 you receive above £60,000, you need to pay back 1% of the maximum amount of Child Benefit you're entitled to. So, if you earn £70,000 a year, you'll pay back 50% (meaning you'll still get over £600 a year if you have one child).
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Once you hit £80,000 a year, the charge you'll pay back is 100% of your entitlement, meaning you won't get any benefit.
For full information on how this works, what you need to do, and how you can legally avoid paying the charge, see our full High Income Child Benefit Charge guide.
Claiming Child Benefit can boost the amount you (or your partner) get in state pension
By claiming Child Benefit, you will also earn national insurance (NI) credits, which you need to receive the full state pension.
If you (or your partner) are not working, or earning less than £123 a week, claiming Child Benefit lets you earn NI credits you wouldn't otherwise have earned. So it's crucial you apply, even if one partner's income means you'll have to pay back some or all of the Child Benefit payment. New Child Benefit claims can currently only be backdated by three months, so apply ASAP.
Are you one of 200,000 couples losing out due to the 'wrong' partner claiming Child Benefit?
Only ONE parent named on the Child Benefit application form can get the NI years.
It's also possible to transfer the NI credits between you and your partner. HMRC reckons 200,000 parents are losing out on credits because the partner with a higher income is registered for Child Benefit.
Often it should be the lower-earning member of the couple who applies, as if you are earning, or ever earn, under £123/wk, you'll get an NI credit you wouldn't have otherwise, potentially boosting your future state pension, which can add up to £10,000s over the years.
You can apply to transfer the credits over. The link takes you to a form that you'll need to fill in. You can either do it all online, or you can fill in the form online and then print and post it.
It's sometimes even possible to backdate this, as David emailed. It's likely doing this boosted his wife's state pension by around £3,000 a year...
My wife has a low-paid job, so doesn't contribute to NI, leaving her state pension record with a 10-year gap. We'd been thinking about making voluntary contributions, then I read your Child Benefit article and realised as I'd been claiming it, I could transfer all the credits to my wife. She got 10 years' worth of free NI credits, which would have cost us approx £7,000. A huge weight off our minds. Thanks.
Are you (both) in work? If a family member looks after your children, they could also benefit.
The NI credit can sometimes also be transferred to another family member who's looking after your children. For example, this can be a useful way for grandparents who have contributed to childcare to fill in any gaps in their NI record – see our grandparents' childcare credit guide.
For more on how to check your NI record and boost your state pension, see NI contributions.
Child Benefit FAQs
If you're already claiming Child Benefit, you can add another child on to your claim by calling the Child Benefit helpline on 0300 200 3100 if:
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Your child is up to six months old
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Your child was born in the UK
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You live in England, Scotland or Wales and registered the birth there
If you don't meet this criteria you'll have to apply for Child Benefit by using the CH2 form and send it to the Child Benefit office. If you're claiming for more than two children, you'll also need to send the 'additional children' form.
If you contribute at least the weekly value of Child Benefit towards taking care of a child, you could claim for them. Being eligible to claim doesn't mean you'll be successful. If you and the parent claim, HMRC will decide who gets the payment – it will usually go to the person the child lives with the most.
If you're taking care of the children of two parents who have died (or in certain circumstances where one surviving parent is unable to care for the child), you may also be eligible for guardian's allowance. It's £21.75 a week which you get on top of Child Benefit.
If your child goes to live with someone else, you'll continue to get Child Benefit for eight weeks (maybe longer if you pay towards taking care of your child), unless someone else also claims
If your child goes into care for more than eight weeks, or into hospital or a residential care home for more than 12 weeks, your Child Benefit may be affected.
You need to tell the Child Benefit office if this happens. You usually won't be able to get Child Benefit after the time limits above, but there are exceptions.
If a family breaks up, the Child Benefit will usually go to the resident parent, in other words, the parent the child lives with the most. They'll get the normal rates.
If you've two children and one of them stays mostly with you, and the other stays mainly with your ex-partner, you can both claim and receive £25.60/week for each child.
If two families join together, the eldest child in the new family will qualify for the £26.05/week payment. If you've other children, you'll receive £17.25/week for each other child, regardless of whether they're your biological children or your partner's children.
Child Benefit is affected by the benefit cap. This sets the maximum yearly total you can get on benefits. What you get depends on where you live and your circumstances (for example, a single parent living with children is limited to £22,020 a year outside London but for the same situation it's capped at £25,323 in the capital). So if you're close to your limit and claim Child Benefit, your award may be capped, but there are exceptions.
Can I add another child to an existing claim?
Can I claim for someone else's child?
Can I claim if my child goes into care or hospital?
What happens to my Child Benefit if my family splits up?
What happens to my Child Benefit if two families join together?
Is Child Benefit subject to the benefit cap?
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