Another child benefit question

[SarahB88]

I’m a bit confused by child benefit as I’ve never claimed anything before and don’t want to get it wrong. I am the higher earner out of my partner and I, I am due to start maternity leave in a few weeks with our first baby.

I currently earn £62k before tax, pension etc. I know I can claim whilst I am on maternity leave however, will have to repay anything or will I be alright given my net salary is less than £60k a year? I don’t understand if it’s worked out on gross or net earnings. To add confusion in to the mix, I’ll be returning from mat leave during January 2025 but my flexible working request won’t begin until April 2025 as I have holiday to use so will be taking days off each week, therefore I’ll be on full time wages Jan-March. From April onwards my gross salary will be within the range so I know I’d get the full benefit amount and not owe anything back.

My question is, if I put my claim in when my child is born will I still get the full amount as my net earnings are below £60k or will I have to pay back some because my gross earnings are £62k? If I have to pay some back how does that work? I don’t want to get it wrong.

Or to avoid any hassle of paying back etc could my partner claim instead as he’s on £30k so well within the limit? Or does my salary impact him meaning we still pay some back?

Sorry for the long winded explanation, I’m just not sure how it works!

@TheOneWithUnagi but is that calculation for gross or net taxable pay? What's the difference?

If for example I earn £61k a year and pay £200 a month into a pension, is my net taxable pay £58,690, as a basic example?

But then you'd add on the total value or any private health policies etc? Which could be £1000s?

@sonshineandshowers I feel the same 🙈😂

Oh no I didn’t realise it included bonuses as well but that makes total sense! I’ll have to check my payslip for my taxable pay YTD then as I had a bonus in February and may receive another next Feb too if we meet our financials. I’ve written off the personal targets aspect of it as I’ll be on leave for most of the time so doubt I’ll have achieved much on a pro rata basis. But a normal bonus might mean I need to repay more than half the payments with the new salary scales.

Both of us are going to be working but I’ll be doing 32 hours so I guess I keep it in my name for national insurance credits at least.

@SarahB88 it's a very wield way of doing things. Surely as they have our national insurance number, and know what child benefit we've received,
they can just adjust our tax codes accordingly instead of this self assessment nonsense?

@sonshineandshowers that’s what I don’t understand. They literally have access to see what we’ve earned so can’t they make the adjustments instead of relying on us doing things properly? But like I say, I’ve never claimed anything so not really sure how it works and maybe this is just standard!

I might have to sensitively ask my friend at work what she does for claiming without disclosing salaries. We think were paid the same so should be comparable.

That's the calculation for net taxable pay.

Private medical insurance is usually about £1k.

In terms of language the gross vs net is only hugely relevant if you are making private pension contributions outside of PAYE. Gross vs net in terms of salary obviously means something different though.

The simple thing to know is it's all earnings and benefits less employee pension contributions. It's your P60 number.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-the-child-benefit-rate-rise-means-for-you