Budget - child benefit

[TheOneWithUnagi]

Some good news in the budget today about child benefit.

Current limit at which you start to pay back via higher income charge is £50k, will move to £60k.

You will get no child benefit over £80k vs £60k now. Between £60 and £80k will taper.

Longer term they will look to tax household income somehow. As this still means 2 people earning £59k each will get it vs one earning £61k won't get it 100%.

Shame there was no increase in £100k limit (although hardly surprising given how this is defended on here!)

Good news! I wonder whether it will apply from the tax year about to end (April 2023-2024) or from the new one (April 2024-25).

I assume it's from April 2024 but not certain!

Good news, but will have to re-register again for child benefit as I previously stopped it for earning just over £60k. God knows how that will work!

This is good news. Please remember less than 5% of people earn £100k +.

I’m so pleased- though I think they should make a whole family income limit- better than nothing

Longer term they will look to tax household income somehow

why not make it universal?

60k today equivalent to 50k in 2020

Great news for us as we'd just hit the threshold. Now we're eligible.

It's nearly 20% In London where childcare and housing costs are extortionate so any additional support from the government would have been appreciated.

I really wish all benefits were adjusted according to the cost of living in a given part of the country . Why someone in Liverpool has the same threshold as someone in London I'll never understand given housing and childcare is considerably cheaper in Liverpool.

I might be remembering incorrectly but when I told them I no longer wanted the payments I think it simply meant opting out of payments so I was still registered IYSWIM? I wanted to stay registered as otherwise there is a delay to your DC receiving a national insurance number and you have to manually apply once they turn 16.

Hopefully that'll make it easier for someone who is now eligible for the payments again.

@TrudyProud if you can work out a fair and accurate measure that is cost effective to administer I am sure the Treasury and HMRC would be very interested.

There is also the issue of do you use where a person lives or where they work? For example I have had to advise more than one employee who moved to Scotland they would be paying more Tax even though their job was in England.

So you think someone who earns much less and therefore has lower costs should get less government help on top of it - how on earth is that fair.

Remember there is such a thing as London weighting and also while you are earning your megabucks which support your high house prices and pay into you high pension savings -when you stop work and retire or downsize you will have vastly more money to spend on housing and to live on. .

They are doing this, it was also announced, but will be from 2026 as it requires reforms to HMRC and how they access stuff apparently. Means testing households is more work for them.

We’ve never claimed as DH earns too much but should fall into the new bracket, TBC his payrise this month. How does the tapering work? We’d need to work out if it was worth doing the self assessment

I don’t know if I’ll bother claiming it, we manage well without it, it feels immoral to take the money away from people who might need it more.

So basically more help for high earners.

@Hollyhead there isn’t a limit on the number of people who can claim so you’re not taking money away from another person.
If you’re eligible you should claim it

While the sentiment is admirable, that's not what would happen.

No, it's recognition that the £50k limit as originally set many years ago should be increased to be more in line with inflation.

Your anger is mis-placed here.

I thought they were basing it on joint/household income from 2025/26 (can't remember which it said)

It's still not fair though if your a single parent on 60K when your next door neighbours can be on 50k each and still get it

Because people choose where they live. It's not compulsory to live in London. People choosing to live in London do so knowing they could have a higher standard of living if they lived elsewhere but still prefer London.

When salaries are adjusted across the country they can do that. I could earn double what I earn now in London. I’ve chosen not to live in London. You could pay less for your house by living in Liverpool. You’ve chosen not to live in Liverpool.

Any indication what “longer term” means? We both earn about the same so would likely exceed a household threshold but would now be able to claim some without paying it all back if that has been increased to £80k. But if we’d become ineligible again in a year or something it doesn’t feel worth the hassle.

Looks as if we might be able to claim CB for DS2 as DH is now retired. DS1 is at Uni so do we get the higher rate for DS2 as he is now the eldest child at home?

It’s an improvement and I’m pleased for those it will help.