High Income Child Benefit Charge

Why Child Benefit gets clawed back once one parent's income passes £60,000, and why it's about who earns it, not how much the household brings in together

If you or your partner claim Child Benefit, and either of you has an individual income over £60,000, some or all of that Child Benefit gets clawed back through a tax charge. It trips up a lot of families, not because the rule is hidden, but because it works on individual income, not household income, which is the opposite of how most people assume family benefits are tested. This page explains how it works, walks through an example, and covers the one thing to consider before opting out.

It's tested against one person's income, not the household's

The High Income Child Benefit Charge applies once the higher-earning partner's adjusted net income — the same adjusted net income figure used for the 60% tax trap — passes £60,000 a year. Between £60,000 and £80,000, the charge tapers up steadily: for every £200 of income over the threshold, you're charged back 1% of the Child Benefit received. By £80,000, the charge equals 100% of the Child Benefit; you still receive it, but the tax charge cancels it out entirely. See £60,000 After Tax for the full Income Tax and National Insurance breakdown at exactly this threshold.

Crucially, this is a your income, not your combined income test. Two parents each earning £55,000, effectively a £110,000 household, pay no charge at all, because neither of them individually crosses £60,000. A single-earner household on £70,000, with a partner earning nothing, pays a substantial charge on exactly the same Child Benefit. This individual-versus-household distinction is the single biggest source of confusion about this charge, and it isn't a loophole or a quirk, it's how the charge has always been designed. See Family & Household Examples for this exact contrast worked through in full: a single-earner and a dual-earner family on the same £80,000 household income, one losing their Child Benefit entirely and the other keeping every penny.

How much Child Benefit is actually worth

Child Benefit itself is paid weekly, at a higher rate for your eldest or only child and a lower rate for every child after that. Unlike Universal Credit, there's no cap on the number of children it covers.

How the effective rate moves through the band

Because neither the Personal Allowance taper (which doesn't start until £100,000) nor the National Insurance Upper Earnings Limit (already behind you by £60,000) interferes in this range, the underlying Income Tax and NI rate stays flat right across the £60,000–£80,000 band. That's 40% higher-rate Income Tax plus 2% National Insurance, since you're already above the Upper Earnings Limit (see National Insurance Explained), a combined 42% baseline before the Child Benefit charge is even added on top. What changes through the band is that charge stacking on top of the 42% baseline and, unlike the 60% trap, how steep that stacked rate is depends on how many children you're claiming for, since a bigger family has more Child Benefit at stake across the same £20,000 band.

Keeping your National Insurance credits if you opt out

If the charge is going to cancel out most or all of your Child Benefit anyway, you can choose to stop the payments rather than receive money you'll pay straight back at tax time. Importantly, stopping the payments is not the same as withdrawing the claim, and that distinction matters for a reason that has nothing to do with the money itself.

Child Benefit claims (even ones where payments have been switched off) carry National Insurance credits for the claimant, which count towards your State Pension. This matters most for a parent who's out of work or earning below the NI threshold while caring for a young child, since they'd otherwise have a gap in their NI record for that period. Opt out of the payments on gov.uk to stop the cycle of receiving money and paying a charge on it, but keep the underlying claim open so those credits keep building.

What you can do about it

The charge is driven by the higher earner's adjusted net income, so the same lever that helps with the 60% tax trap works here too: a pension contribution reduces adjusted net income, which can pull you back under £60,000 (or reduce how far over it you are) and shrink or eliminate the charge. See Reducing Your Tax Through Pensions for exactly how that works, with a worked example.

It's also worth remembering the individual-income point above when deciding how income is split between two working partners, or when weighing up a pay rise or bonus that would push one partner over the threshold. The same household income can mean a very different Child Benefit outcome purely depending on whose payslip it lands on.

This page explains general High Income Child Benefit Charge rules and is not personalised advice; see the disclaimer. Whether to opt out of Child Benefit payments depends on your full circumstances, including your and your partner's National Insurance records; speak to a qualified financial adviser before making decisions.