What is it?

Child Benefit is payable to families with children on the basis of the number of eligible children in the household. It is £20.70 per week for the oldest child and £13.70 per week for subsequent children.

All means-tested benefits and tax credits completely ignore income from Child Benefit. However, some Council Tax Support schemes do treat Child Benefit as income.

Can I get it?

Child Benefit is not means tested in the normal sense. However, if you or your partner have an income of more than £50,000 a year you will be liable to the high income Child Benefit charge.

The calculator automatically works out your Child Benefit entitlement on the basis of the number of eligible children you have. More information is available on when a child counts as an eligible child.

How do I claim?

The only way to claim Child Benefit is to fill in a Child Benefit claim form. You need to send the claim form to the Child Benefit Office along with your child's birth or adoption certificate. You can't claim over the phone or the internet.

There are a couple of ways of getting a claim form. You can:

• get one from the 'Bounty Pack' that's given to new mothers in hospital


• fill in a Child Benefit claim form on screen and print it out - you'll still need to send it to the Child Benefit Office

For further help and information please see HMRC's Child Benefit website.