Child Tax Credit
If you already have a claim for Child or Working Tax Credits this section may be relevant to you.
If you have an existing Working Tax Credit claim and you have your first child, you can choose to keep claiming tax credits and add Child Tax Credits to your existing Working Tax Credit claim. This does not constitute a new claim for tax credits. You are making a change to an existing claim.
If you already have a child/ren and have a Tax Credit award and you have another child, then you can choose to update your circumstances and have your new child added on to your existing claim.
Adding a Child to a Working Tax Credit Claim
If you have a Working Tax Credit claim and you become responsible for a child or qualifying young person, then you can add Child Tax Credits to your Working Tax Credit claim.
You will need to contact HMRC and report your change of circumstances within 1 month so that you can receive prompt payment of what you are entitled to. If you do not report the change within 1 month, you may miss out on additional income.
A child or qualifying young person is someone:
- Under the age of 16 (child)
- Between 16 and the 31st August following their birthday and not in education or training
- 16-20 after 31st August following their 16th birthday and in full-time non-advanced education or approved unwaged training.
If the qualifying young person is 19, they need to be enrolled onto their education or training course before their 19th birthday.
Details about what non-advanced education means can be found here.
You may be better off claiming Universal Credit instead of tax credits. It is very important you make sure you will be better off on Universal Credit before making a claim. You cannot return to or reclaim legacy benefits if you make a mistake.
How Much?
The annual amount of Child Tax Credit per year is £3,235 which works out as about £62.20 per week. This is known as the Child Element.
If your child or qualifying young person was born before 6 April 2017, the family element can also be included in the Child Tax Credit award and is £545 per year or about £10.50 per week.
During the first year of your Child Tax Credit award, you may not get the full amount of these figures. For example, if you become responsible for a child or qualifying young person in January you will only receive about 25% of these amounts because Tax Credits are paid for the financial year between April and March.
2-Child Limit
Since 6 April 2017 a 2-child limit has been enforced by the government meaning that you may not get Child Tax Credits for all your children.
For example, you already have 2 children, and your 3rd child is born in 2023. You will not receive any extra Child Tax Credit because you already have 2 children on your claim however, you should still tell HMRC about your child so that they are on the system if anything changes.
If one of your 2 children no longer qualifies for Child Tax Credit, for example they move out or they finish education and start working, then your youngest child can replace them in the claim, and you can continue to receive Child Tax Credit for 2 children.
There are some exceptions to the 2-child limit which can be found here.
Disabled Children
The annual amount of the disabled child rate is £3,905 which works out at about £75.10 per week.
The severely disabled child rate is £5,480 and works out at about £105.40 per week.
The severely disabled child rate is paid if your child receives the higher rate of the care element of DLA.
Even if you have more than 2 children you will still get the disabled child rates, you just won’t get the child element of £3,235 per year.
For example, if you had a 15-year-old child, a 12-year-old child and 6-year-old child born after 6 April 2017 who has been awarded middle rate care for DLA your award might look like this:
|
Family Element |
545 |
|
Child Rate |
3235 |
|
Child Rate |
3235 |
|
Disabled Child |
7140 |
|
Less deduction for 2-child limit |
-3235 |
|
Maximum Award |
10920 |