Child benefit during MAT Leave

[Sara1988]

I'm currently in the process of applying for child benefit for our first child. I understand the amount we receive will depend on the highest household earner, in our case me. During MAT Leave my annual income will be considerable decreased. Do I apply using my normal income or my MAT Leave income?

Any advice very gladly received 😊

You dont need to give your income to claim it. You get the full amount however much you earn.
If you earn over the threshold in a particular tax year you'd need to complete a self assessment tax return to pay some of it back

It's a standard amount for everybody. £25.60 per week for 1st/only child.

CB is not income related in first instance. You claim and then submit a tax return in due course but during ml you may well earn less than the threshold to repay any. Subsequently you can opt out of payments if relevant.

I earn 60k+ so mb understanding is I will need to pay some back, but I do that at end of year via tax return?

Yes, you submit a tax return at the end of the tax year and it will tell you how much needs to be repaid. It's a sliding scale where you pay it all back at £80k

For current tax year the deadline for online returns will be January 2026 so even if you do need to repay some you have the benefit of cashflow in the meantime.

You only pay all of it back if you earn over £80k after pension contributions assuming you don't have any benefits like a company car.

So worth claiming while you're entitled to it and then you can pay any tax or cancel your claim later on.

Oh I wonder if my pension benefits would take me under the threshold.

You just do it via a tax return, but when you do it in April 25 it will be based on 23-24 income. So will be the following year that you will have the mat leave figures. I used to claim, then cancelled as i got a promotion so was on more than 60k, but i’ve claimed again since they upped it to 80k max. I just keep it in another account and don’t really spend it, so i’ve got enough to pay the tax return in there. Eventually i’d spend of course