BenefitsUniversal Credit Child Benefit Council Tax

Tax year 2026/27 · Rest of UK · annual

Child Benefit Calculator

Child Benefit rates plus the High Income charge check for 2026/27.

Tax year

Region

Schedule

Your details

Number of childrenYour (or partner's higher) annual income

Child Benefit after any charge (year)

£2,252

£43 a week for 2 children

Breakdown

Weekly entitlement (2 children)	£43
Yearly entitlement	£2,252
High Income Child Benefit Charge	£0
You keep (year)	£2,252

Interactive scenarios

Tax and deductions, your way

Tax year

Region

Pay schedule

Salary £45,000

Net (monthly)

£2,806

Income tax (monthly)

£541

NI (monthly)

£216

Effective rate

20.2%

Modelled on a 5% pension. Showing monthly figures, rest of UK, tax year 2026/27.

The full guide

Everything worth knowing about Child Benefit

Worked examples with real figures, the rules underneath the number, and the traps that catch people out.

Child Benefit Calculator: £26.05 for your first child, and the charge that can take it back

Child Benefit pays £26.05 a week for your eldest child and £17.25 a week for each other child in 2026/27, which builds to £2,251.60 a year for two children. Nothing is means tested at the point of claiming, and most families receive every penny of it.

The exception is the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Once the higher earner in the household passes £60,000 of adjusted net income, the charge claws the benefit back at 1% for every £200 over the line, and at £80,000 it takes the whole payment. A two child family on £65,000 hands back £562.90 and keeps £1,688.70. The sections below run the rates, the charge and the claim decision in the order the calculator applies them.

The higher earner sets the charge

The charge follows the highest adjusted net income in the household, not the income of the person who claims. A claimant earning £30,000 with a partner on £70,000 faces a 50% charge, so enter the higher figure above.

The 2026/27 rates: £26.05 for the eldest, £17.25 for each other child

Two weekly rates build every payment. The eldest child in the claim attracts £26.05 a week, and each further child attracts £17.25 a week. One child therefore brings £1,354.60 a year, two bring £2,251.60, three bring £3,148.60 and four bring £4,045.60, each figure simply the weekly rate multiplied by 52.

Eldest means the oldest child you claim for. When the oldest child leaves the claim, the next child steps up to the higher rate, so the shape of the payment survives even as its size falls. The calculator asks only how many children you claim for, from one to ten, and applies the two rates in that order.

Payments normally land every four weeks, which is why the yearly figures above come from the weekly rate times 52 rather than times 12 monthly payments. Thirteen four weekly payments a year carry the same total as the weekly maths suggests, just in lumpier pieces.

Multiply the pattern out to a single payment and the rhythm becomes concrete. A two child claim at £43.30 a week arrives as £173.20 every four weeks, and a three child claim at £60.55 a week arrives as £242.20. The yearly totals stay the ones the weekly maths gives, however the money is sliced on its way to your account.

Any adult responsible for a child can hold the claim, and the claimant does not have to be the child's parent: a guardian or another adult looking after the child claims on exactly the same rates. Only one person can claim for a given child, so separated parents have to decide between them who holds the claim, and with it the credits the claim protects.

The benefit itself is not taxed as income and carries no National Insurance. Money only ever leaves again through the charge covered in the next section, and that charge arrives through a tax return rather than being netted off the payment, which is why a family can receive the full amount all year and still owe some of it back.

The High Income Child Benefit Charge: 1% back for every £200 over £60,000

The charge starts at £60,000 of adjusted net income and grows in steps. Every £200 of income above the line costs 1% of the year's Child Benefit, so the climb from £60,000 to £80,000 runs through exactly 100 steps. The calculator applies the same idea as a straight fraction: the excess over £60,000 divided by the £20,000 width of the zone.

Run the two child figure of £2,251.60 up the scale and the fraction shows itself. At £62,000 the charge takes 10%, which is £225.16. At £65,000 it takes 25%, which is £562.90. At £70,000 it takes half, £1,125.80, and at £80,000 it takes the full £2,251.60, leaving nothing at all.

The person who pays is the higher earner, whether or not they are the claimant, and the payment goes through Self Assessment. If either partner in the household is over £60,000, the higher earner's return carries the charge, which the calculator flags the moment a charge applies to your figures.

Adjusted net income is the measure, not the salary on a contract. Pension contributions and Gift Aid come off before the test is applied, and the section after next shows how much room that creates. Bonuses, benefits in kind and rental income push the figure the other way, so a salary below the line does not guarantee a clean escape.

There is no cliff at the threshold, despite how often the charge is described as one. An income of £60,100 puts the higher earner just £100 into the zone, and the fraction is half of one percent, which is about £11 on a two child claim. The charge only becomes a serious sum once income is well inside the zone, and it only becomes the whole benefit at £80,000 itself.

Worked example: two children and a £65,000 salary

Take two children and a higher earner on £65,000, in the order the calculator builds it. The weekly entitlement is £26.05 plus £17.25, which is £43.30. Across 52 weeks the yearly entitlement is £2,251.60.

Income sits £5,000 over the £60,000 line. That is 25 steps of £200, so the charge takes 25% of the benefit: £562.90. The family keeps £1,688.70 a year, which is £32.48 a week.

Move the salary and the amount kept moves with it. At £70,000 the charge takes half and the family keeps £1,125.80. At £60,000 exactly nothing is clawed back, and at £80,000 the charge takes the full £2,251.60, which is the point where the opt out decision in the next section decides itself.

A third child changes the stakes rather than the shape. Three children bring £3,148.60 a year, the same 25% charge at £65,000 takes £787.15, and the family keeps £2,361.45, or £45.41 a week. The fraction is fixed by income alone; the number of children decides how much money the fraction gets to bite on.

Opting out: stop the payments, keep the claim

Claiming and being paid are two separate decisions. You can claim Child Benefit and then opt out of the payments themselves, which stops the money but keeps the claim alive. No payments means no charge, and no charge means no Self Assessment bill to settle for it, which suits earners sitting deep inside the £60,000 to £80,000 zone.

If you keep taking the payments while a charge applies, the higher earner must register for Self Assessment and repay the charge through a tax return each year. That filing duty is the real cost of staying in payment near the top of the zone, because the money itself simply comes back out again.

The claim is worth keeping even when the payments are not. A live claim protects National Insurance credits toward the State Pension for a parent who is not working or is earning little, counting each week until the youngest child turns 12. It also means each child is issued a National Insurance number automatically shortly before they turn 16.

Payments can restart at any point, so the decision is never final. A job change, a career break or a drop in the higher earner's income can pull the household back under the line, at which point switching payments back on restores money that carries no charge at all. The nearer the higher earner sits to £60,000, the less the opt out saves; the nearer to £80,000, the clearer it becomes.

Tell HMRC when the facts move, whichever way you have decided. A child leaving approved education, a child leaving the household or a change in who earns more all alter what should be paid, and a claim left running on stale facts builds an overpayment that finds its way back through the same tax return route as the charge itself.

Adjusted net income: pension payments pull you back under the line

The £60,000 test runs on adjusted net income, which is total income with gross pension contributions and Gift Aid donations deducted. The income box in the calculator is that adjusted figure, so any contribution you already make has done its work before you type the number in.

The arithmetic is powerful at the edge of the zone. A higher earner on £65,000 who pays £5,000 gross into a pension brings adjusted net income to exactly £60,000. The charge on two children falls from £562.90 to nothing, and that saving sits on top of the ordinary tax relief the contribution already earned.

Smaller gaps need smaller contributions. At £62,000 with two children the charge is 10%, or £225.16, and a £2,000 gross contribution removes it entirely. Salary sacrifice achieves the same reduction before the payslip is printed, because the sacrificed salary never enters income in the first place.

Work the test in both directions before you rely on it. Overtime, a bonus, a company benefit or a second income source all raise adjusted net income, and the charge follows the final figure for the tax year rather than the salary you started it on. A household can drift into the zone mid year without anything about the claim itself changing.

Where the Child Benefit Calculator gets its figures

Rates, bands and thresholds follow published HMRC and gov.uk figures for the 2026/27 tax year, held in one table that every tool reads. April arrives, the table changes, and the results move together.

Earlier years stay available through the year selector, so a late self assessment runs on the numbers that applied at the time rather than today's.

Some cases still need an accountant. K codes carrying negative allowances, bespoke sacrifice arrangements, the annual allowance taper for very high earners, and anything involving two employments at once.

About this calculator

The Child Benefit calculator works out your weekly and yearly Child Benefit for 2026/27 and checks whether the High Income Child Benefit Charge applies to you.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Child Benefit in 2026/27?+

You get £26.05 a week for your eldest or only child and £17.25 a week for each other child. For two children that is £43.30 a week, or about £2,251.60 a year, paid every four weeks into your bank account.

What is the High Income Child Benefit Charge?+

If you or your partner earns over £60,000 of adjusted net income, HMRC claws Child Benefit back through a tax charge. It rises by 1% of your benefit for every £200 over £60,000, and at £80,000 the whole amount is repaid.

Do I have to pay the charge if my partner earns over £60,000?+

The charge falls on whoever has the higher income, even if the Child Benefit is paid to the other parent. Many families in this position opt out of receiving payments but still register the claim, which protects the lower earner's National Insurance credits.

Should I still claim Child Benefit if I earn over £80,000?+

Yes, claim it and opt out of payments. The claim itself gives National Insurance credits that count towards your State Pension, and it automatically registers your child for a National Insurance number at 16. You avoid the charge entirely by opting out.

How do I pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge?+

You declare it through Self Assessment each year. HMRC works out the charge from your adjusted net income and adds it to your tax bill. Keep records of the Child Benefit received so the figures match.

Can pension contributions reduce the charge?+

Yes. The charge is based on adjusted net income, so pension contributions and Gift Aid donations that bring you under £60,000 can cut or remove it. Salary sacrifice is especially effective because it lowers the income figure HMRC uses.

Does Child Benefit affect Universal Credit?+

Child Benefit itself is not counted as income for Universal Credit, so it does not reduce your UC award. However, the High Income Child Benefit Charge is a separate tax matter handled through Self Assessment.