Child benefit

Anyone wishing to claim child benefit should go to the Gov.uk website.

Summary

Child benefit is a payment to people bringing up children and young persons and is designed to help with the extra cost this entails. It is paid to those responsible for bringing up a child who is under 16, or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training. Only one person can get child benefit for a child. There is no limit to how many children that can be claimed for.

A high income child benefit charge was introduced in January 2013, where people with incomes above a threshold will pay a tax charge or may choose to opt out. Some families may decide not to register for child benefit if they subsequently must opt out. Further details on the high income child benefit charge can be found on the Gov.uk website.

The latest figures are for August 2024.

• In Lancashire-12, 135,035 families received child benefit for 232,085 eligible children.
• In Lancashire-14, it was 171,945 families that received the benefit for 298,610 eligible children.
• Local authorities with the largest number of families receiving child benefit were Blackburn with Darwen (20,650), Preston (17,230) Blackpool (16,260) and Lancaster (13,805). Ribble Valley (5,870) had the fewest families in receipt.
• In Lancashire-12, the majority of families receiving child benefit had one (48.4%) or two (36.7%) children. This was similar to England for families with one (48.4%) or two (36.8%) children.
• Child benefit for children aged between 5 and 10 years (32.7%) made up the largest proportion of claims in Lancashire-12, followed by children aged 11 to 15 years (29.8%).
• Compared to August 2023, there was a 0.6% increase in the number of families in receipt of child benefit (+835) and a 0.2% increase in the number of children benefits are being claimed for (+430). These percentages were both higher than in England (0.1% increase in claimant families and a 0.5% decrease in children claimed for).

Source: Child benefit annual release from HM Revenue & Customs.

Page updated 15 August 2025