Families should be aware that their Child Benefit payments may arrive on a slightly different day next.
Child Benefit is paid to someone who is responsible for looking after someone under the age of 16, or sometimes under the age of 20 if they’re in approved education or training. It is currently worth £25.60 a week for your first child, then £16.95 a week for any additional child you may have.
Child Benefit is paid on a Monday or Tuesday, but there is a bank holiday on Monday, April 21 to mark Easter Monday. If you’re due a Child Benefit payment on April 21, you’ll receive your money on Thursday, April 17. This is because Friday, April 18, is also a bank holiday, as this is Good Friday. Easter Sunday will fall on April 20.
The amount you get paid will not change, just the date the money arrives in your account. But if you do get paid earlier, you will have to make your money last longer as you’ll have a longer wait until your next payment. Child Benefit is paid every four weeks by HMRC and is claimed by more than seven million families.
In order to claim Child Benefit, you need to live in the UK and the child normally needs to live with you, or you pay at least the same amount as Child Benefit towards looking after them. There is no limit to the number of children you can claim Child Benefit for, but only one person can claim Child Benefit for each child. 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.
If your child is over the age of 16, but is still under 20, then you can only get Child Benefit if they’re in approved education or training, such as A-Levels or NVQs. Your child must be staying in approved education or training for 12 hours or more each week, and courses won’t count if they’re paid for by an employer.
If you’re a high earner, you may have to pay back some of your Child Benefit. You get the full amount of Child Benefit if you, or your partner, earn less than £60,000 per year. But if one of you earns over £60,000, you have to pay some of the benefit back at a rate of 1% for every £200 you earn over £60,000.
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