The 2026/27 rates
Child Benefit pays £27.05 a week for the eldest or only child and £17.90 a week for each additional child. Those rates have been in place since April 2026. A family with one child gets £1,354.60 a year. Two children: £2,251.60. Three children: £3,148.60. It's paid every four weeks directly into your bank account.
The benefit is available to anyone responsible for a child under 16, or under 20 if they're in approved education or training (A-levels, T-levels and similar count, university doesn't). You claim it, it doesn't appear automatically. And you can claim as soon as a child is born or moves in with you, with up to three months' backdating available.
Unlike Universal Credit, Child Benefit isn't means-tested at the point of claim. You can be a higher-rate taxpayer and still claim. Whether you then have to pay some of it back is a separate question handled through the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
The High Income Child Benefit Charge
If anyone in your household has adjusted net income over £60,000, the higher earner faces a tax charge that gradually claws back the Child Benefit. The charge is 1% of the annual Child Benefit for every £200 of income above £60,000. At £70,000 it's 50% repaid. At £80,000 the charge equals 100% of the benefit, you're fully paying it back through Self Assessment.
The charge is assessed on individual income, not combined household income. So if one partner earns £75,000 and the other earns £45,000, only the £75,000 earner's income matters for the charge, not the total of £120,000. This surprises a lot of people who assume they won't be caught.
Adjusted net income isn't the same as gross salary. Pension contributions and Gift Aid donations reduce it. Someone earning £65,000 who makes £6,000 a year in personal pension contributions has an adjusted net income of £59,000, below the threshold, no charge.
Why most households should still claim
Even if you're going to face the HICBC and repay most or all of the benefit, there are strong reasons to keep the claim active. Most importantly, a live claim protects the non-working or lower-earning partner's National Insurance credits. Each year of NI credits counts toward the State Pension, at 35 years needed for a full State Pension, missing a handful of years matters over a lifetime.
A claim also ensures your child automatically gets a National Insurance number at age 16. Without it, they have to apply separately, which can delay access to work-related systems.
If you want to avoid the Self Assessment obligation but still get the NI credits, you can opt out of receiving the actual payments while keeping the claim live. That's straightforward to do via HMRC online. The claim sits there dormant but active, you can switch payments back on if income changes.
When the HICBC might make it not worth receiving payments
If income is well above £80,000 and is likely to stay there, receiving Child Benefit payments just creates a Self Assessment obligation and a tax charge equal to 100% of the benefit. In that case, opting out of payments while keeping the claim for NI credits is usually the cleanest approach.
But if income fluctuates, a bonus year, overtime, varying self-employment income, check the position before each tax year rather than assuming it's the same as last year. A year where income drops below £80,000 means some of the Child Benefit is real net cash, not just a tax obligation.