April saw the number of new child benefit claims rise following an increase in the income level required to pay it back. 86,656 claims were made, a 16% rise in March and a 2-year high. Former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in March that the threshold at which the benefit was expected to be partly paid would rise from £50,000 to £60,000 and the level at it would be withdrawn increased from £60,000 to £80,000.

Claimants are eligible if they are responsible for a child under 16 or under 20 if they are in approved education or training programmes. Only one person can claim for a child and the payments equal £25.60 per week for the eldest or only child, £16.95 for each younger child. Once parents earn a certain level they are subject to the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC).

Laura Suter of AJ Bell stressed that the increase in claims is a good thing as the benefit is ‘chronically under claimed’. 638,000 families opted out last year as they had to pay the HICBC, families who if there eligible could have been entitled to £1.15 billion. She pointed out that April’s rise will have also reminded parents that they were already entitled to make a claim. 

The increase will have been a welcome relief to the 1,000s of families struggling with the cost of living in the UK. However, with energy bills expected to rise experts warn that more may be needed to be done if the effect of the increase is going to be felt.

Following yesterday’s GCSE results release, HMRC are also ‘urging’ parents to extend their child benefit by 31^st August, if they are staying in education or their payments may stop.

(Sources: bbc.co.uk)