Child Benefit automatically stops on August 31 on or after your child’s 16th birthday
Child Benefit payments will stop for thousands of parents next month unless they update their claim.
You can claim Child Benefit if you’re responsible for a child under the age of 16, or if they are under the age of 20 and still in approved education or training.
If your child is continuing with education or training after the age of 16, you must notify HMRC. This is because Child Benefit automatically stops on August 31 on or after your child’s 16th birthday.
You also need to let HMRC know if your child leaves their approved education or training before the course is complete.
If your child completes their course, payments will stop at whichever of these comes first out of the end of February, May 31, August 31 or November 31.
Approved education or training can include A-Levels, NVQs or even home education, but it does not include university or BTEC qualifications. You can let HMRC know about your child’s plans through GOV.UK.
Child Benefit is worth £27.05 a week for your first child, then £17.90 for any additional child and is claimed by more than seven million families. It is paid every four weeks, on a Monday or Tuesday, by HMRC.
To claim Child Benefit, your child normally has to live with you, or you pay at least the same amount as Child Benefit toward looking after them.
You can claim Child Benefit if you fostered a child, as long as the local council is not paying anything towards their accommodation or maintenance, or if you adopted your child.
You may also be entitled if you’re looking after a child for a friend or relative. There is no limit for how many children you can claim Child Benefit for, but if two people look after a child, only one person can claim Child Benefit.
If you, or your partner, are on a high income, then you may have to pay back some of your Child Benefit. If either you earn over £60,000, you have to pay back 1% of your Child Benefit for every £200 you earn over £60,000.
This is known as the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Once you earn over £80,000, you pay back 100% of your Child Benefit.
