People earning less than £80,000 annually are being urged to claim a benefit paid by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that is worth thousands of pounds per year. Child Benefit provides income support to parents or carers to help with childcare costs and entitles claimants to an allowance for each child under the age of 16, or under 20 if they stay in education or training. It also provides National Insurance credits towards your State Pension and a National Insurance number for your child. Thanks to an uplift of 1.7% at the start of the new tax year in April, the payment rates for Child Benefit are now worth £26.05 per week for one child, or £1,354.60 per year, and for each additional child you’ll get £17.25 per week.
So, if you have two children you’ll get £2,251.60 per year and those with three children will get £3,148 per year. But there is no limit – other than the Benefit Cap – so if you had four children, or five, and so on, you could get even more than £3,148, with £897 for each additional child.
Currently, the maximum amount you can earn to receive any Child Benefit is £80,000, although if your income is more than £60,000 per year you may have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
This week HMRC issued a reminder for high earners not to miss out the cash boost, as it can provide thousands of pounds worth of financial support per year.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), HMRC said: “If you earn under 80k and haven’t claimed Child Benefit yet, it could be financially worth your while. You or your partner can now earn up to £60k before you start paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Claim online or in the HMRC app.”
If you or your partner earn £60,000 or less per year then you can claim the full amount of Child Benefit if the child lives with you, or if you’re paying the same weekly amount as the benefit towards looking after them. Only one parent or carer can claim it, so you can decide between yourselves who gets it.
You can claim Child Benefit 48 hours after you’ve registered the birth of your child, or once a child comes to live with you, and it can be backdated for up to three months.
Child Benefit can also be used to qualify for National Insurance, if for example you didn’t work because you were looking after a child, it can be used to earn a National Insurance year towards your pension.
Each year, Child Benefit is increased in line with inflation. In April 2025, the UK government increased the rates by 1.7% to the current amounts.