MARTIN Lewis’ MSE has issued an “urgent” warning to hundreds of thousands of families to make an easy child benefit check.
Parents are set to benefit from a big cash boost after an overhaul of the child benefit system came into effect earlier this month.
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Under the old rules, any parent earning over £50,000 would start to lose some of the monthly payment on a sliding scale.
It meant that if you claimed the benefit, you’d have to start paying back one per cent for every £100 above the £50,000 threshold.
When income topped £60,000, the amount paid back would be completely wipe out the benefit.
This has been referred to as the high-income child benefit charge and is paid back through annual self-assessment tax returns.
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However, in last month’s Budget the chancellor announced that the threshold for receiving the benefit would be raised.
From now as long as both parents earn below £60,000 they will be entitled to the full child benefit payment.
But parents who previously chose to opt out of receiving child benefit because of the charge will need to manually enlist again.
Martin Lewis‘ MSE said these families will need to act “urgently”.
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The team said: “These changes will benefit 485,000 families but many need to MANUALLY opt back in.”
You can restart your child benefit payments by filling in a form on the government’s website.
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Parents earning over £60,000 now repay the benefit at rate of one per cent for £200 of income over the threshold.
The result is that half a million families with children will see an average £1,260 extra paid out through child benefit.
And 170,000 families will no longer have to pay back child benefit at all.
It means that fewer parents will be caught out with tax bills for thousands of pounds after claiming Child Benefit that needed to be repaid.
It’s up to parents to notify HMRC if they are liable for the charge and file a self-assessment tax return to pay it.
In addition to changes to the high-income child benefit charge, payments also went up this month.
From now on, the monthly payment goes up to £25.60 a week for one child (from £24) and an extra £16.95 a week (from £15.90) is paid for any additional children.
That’s £1,331 a year for your first and only child and an extra £881 a year for siblings.
How to claim Child Benefit
Child benefit is worth up to £1,331 a year for your first or only child. And up to £881 a year for additional children.
This works out as £102.40 every four weeks or £25.60 a week for your first child and £67.80 every 4 weeks or £16.95 a week for their siblings.
There is no limit the amount of children that can be claimed for.
Applying is straightforward and can be done in minutes at gov.uk or through the HMRC app.
Parents with a newborn baby should make a claim online as soon as possible and could then receive their first payment in as little as three days.
You can also backdate claims for up to three months.
Parents can make a claim and then choose to opt-out of receiving Child Benefit payments can still receive National Insurance credits if one parent is not working.
National Insurance credits build up your entitlement to the state pension.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE
Child benefit is paid to parents to help with the costs of raising children. It can go towards childcare, or just the overall cost of food, bills and general running of a household.
Payments are usually made every four weeks, plus by claiming child benefit you also get National Insurance credits that count towards your State Pension.
Currently, parents can claim up to £25.60 a week – equating to around £102.40 a month or £1,334.86 a year.
For any additional children, you’ll get £16.95 a week, which is £67.80 a month and £883.82 per year.
Only one parent can claim for each child and you normally qualify if you live in the UK and are responsible for a child under 16.
Parents can also claim support for a child under 20 if they are in approved education or training.
You’re thought of as responsible for a child if you live with them or you are paying at least the same amount as child benefit towards looking after them.
This might mean you are paying the equivalent amount of child benefit on food, clothes or pocket money.
You should bear in mind, eligibility changes if a child goes into hospital or care and if your child starts to live with someone else.
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Foster parents can claim child benefit, as long as the council is not paying anything towards their accommodation or maintenance.
Legal guardians or parents adopting a child can also apply for the benefit, but the child has to be living with them.
How much is child benefit worth?
THERE are two child benefit rates, one for the eldest child and another for younger children.
- You get £21.15 per week for your eldest or only child (£1099.80 a year)
- You get £14 for each of your other children (£728 per year, per child)
- You get the money for each child under 16 (or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training)
- If families split up, how much you’ll get for each child depends on how you claim.
- If you have 2 children and one stays with you and the other stays with your ex-partner, you’ll both get £21.15 a week for each child.
- If one parent claims for all the children, you get £21.15 for the eldest and £14 for each younger child.
- Only one household can claim for each child
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