We're Launching a Child Benefit Service — Register Your Interest

Child Benefit is one of the most widely claimed benefits in the country, and also one of the most misunderstood. It's not means-tested — your income never stops you being eligible in principle — but a separate tax charge for higher earners puts a lot of parents off claiming it at all. We're building a dedicated Child Benefit service to help families work through that decision properly — you can register your interest ahead of launch now.

What Child Benefit is, briefly

You can claim Child Benefit if you're responsible for a child under 16, or under 20 if they stay in approved full-time education or training. Only one person can claim per child. It's paid regardless of income, but if you or your partner individually earn over £60,000 a year, some of it gets clawed back through the tax system via the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) — rising to all of it once the higher earner's income reaches £80,000.

Why the tax charge doesn't always mean "don't bother"

This is the single biggest source of confusion around Child Benefit. Even where the tax charge would claw back all of the payment, claiming — and simply opting out of actually receiving the money — still protects the claimant's National Insurance record and State Pension. If you're not working, or earning below the National Insurance threshold, missing a Child Benefit claim can mean missing years towards your State Pension. Ticking the box to claim without receiving payments avoids the tax charge but keeps that protection, and it's a decision a lot of higher-earning parents don't realise they're getting wrong.

What we're building

• A dedicated service that walks through the current rates, the HICBC thresholds, and the National Insurance protection point that catches so many higher-earning families out.
• Help working out whether to claim and opt out of payments, claim and pay the charge back through Self Assessment, or claim in full — depending on your household's circumstances.
• Support with backdating a late claim, which can usually only be done for a limited period, so acting sooner rather than later matters.
• A joined-up view alongside other benefits you might be entitled to, since Child Benefit doesn't interact with Attendance Allowance or Pension Credit but often sits alongside Universal Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction in the same household.

To be clear about what we are: we're an independent, technology-led guidance service. Claiming Child Benefit directly through GOV.UK is always free. Where we aim to add value, once the full service launches, is in helping families make the right call on the tax charge and get any backdating sorted properly.

Coming soon

Our dedicated Child Benefit service isn't live yet. Register your interest now and we'll be in touch as soon as the full service is ready.