Child benefit

[mellowyellow6]

How does child benefit work please? I'm pregnant and have been advised everyone can claim when they have a child and be eligible for £20.80 per week. I earn £40k and my husband earns £78k. I had a look at this but didn't fully understand. Thanks

www.gov.uk/child-benefit

anyone can claim it, but on your family income it will be taken back of you when you do your tax return, plus tax on it - I'm not sure what rate though.
My husband was on 40% tax band when the new rule came in and we'd have been charged quite a bit extra when paying back so stopped the claim.

Jointly, you earn too much to be eligible for child benefit.
You don't really need it with your salaries, do you?

this explains it
www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge#:~:text=You%20may%20have%20to%20pay,amount%20towards%20the%20child's%20upkeep

You can claim it but it will be paid back as such. Even disregarding your income you still earn too much as a household though.

@JaJaDingDong not really necessary and not for you to say what OP can afford

You can claim it as your salary is under the 50k threshold, your husband as the higher earner will be responsible for paying the tax on it.

Yo should still claim it and claim it back as it will count as your NI contributions when on mat leave or if you don't go ack to work.

Thanks so much all, that's really helpful. And thank you @hoitytoit
@JaJaDingDong it was only that someone suggested we claim when the time comes. I appreciate your thoughts and I really wasn't looking for a handout but for what it's worth you don't know peoples financial circumstances and without going into the details, both my partner and I separately financially support a parent on a monthly basis.

You can claim it but your husband would be responsible for paying it all back through a self assessment tax return as he earns over £60k

Alternatively you can claim CB but opt out of payment. This would protect NI credits for a lower earner/sahp and ensure they automatically get their NI number sent out at age 16.

You still need to claim the National Insurance contributions if you are not working. This goes towards your state pension & other benefits

Yes, do claim it for NI purposes, and also ensure it is in your name. As the primary carer this will serve as your door in to benefits and housing (as a primary carer) should your husband leave you suddenly in reduced financial circumstances and can also serve as a "tie breaker" for child maintenance disputes.

Thank you everyone, that's super helpful. 👍

Unless you're planning to be a SAHP for the next decade or so, there's probably no point claiming CB as you need at least 35 years of NI contributions for a full state pension and you have about 45-50 years of working life in which to earn them.

However, you could claim the money if your DHs salary reduces somewhat for whatever reason (it's not gross salary that counts, but 'adjusted net income' which confusingly is gross salary, adjusted for pension contributions and other things like company cars or other benefits).

It also tapers down, so you can get some on a salary above £50k if the higher earner makes pension contributions. Someone on £45-50k might also start to lose some if they have a company car but no pension, but that would probably quite an unusual situation.

No point in claiming with a husband earning that much

What if they split up in the future

You can only pay for missing contributions for the most recent 6 years

It is about protecting yourself

Do you still want to be working at 66+ ?

Definitely claim for the NI credits, but you can opt not to receive payments so there is nothing to pay back.

I receive CB for 3 children, DH has to pay a small amount back through his tax return as he earns just over £50k.

Definitely worth claiming for the NI credits (which you get until your youngest child is 12) which will count towards your state pension and other benefits if you ever need them. If you prefer, you can register for them but opt not to receive the CB I think (since you’d have to pay it back anyway). registering also means that your dc is automatically in the system for NI and will receive his/her NI number at 15 years and 9 months.

It’s been worthwhile for me; I had a few years as a SAHM and then on a low salary (below the NI lower earnings limit) while I was part time and re-training and the credits from having registered for CB mean that I have a decent NI record and am on course to get my 35 years contributions.

But the OP hasn't said she's going to be giving up work. If she carries on working, she doesn't need CB for the NI credits. It doesn't 'double up' either, credits in any particular year only count as one year, not two, so she's not getting to her 35 years of contribution target any faster.

If you will be going back to work and earning enough to pay NI, you will get your NI credits that way so don’t need to worry about getting them from CB. Where it’s important to claim CB even where there’s a high earner is where the other parent is a SAHP or doesn’t earn enough to pay NI, and then they will still get the credits.

However, even if you don’t need the NI credits it’s still worth claiming the CB and opting not to receive the money. Doing this means that your child is in the system and will get their NI number automatically when they reach 16. It can be a hassle getting this if CB hasn’t been claimed for them.

Cross post with lots of people!

She might not be giving up work, but if she registers it might be beneficial at some stage, eg if she has a second dc and gives up/cuts down her hours then. Circumstances change. It’s not as if it’s a big headache to register, and it can be a useful insurance policy.

Plus it saves a call to HMRC when her dc gets his/her first job and realises they never received an NI number!