Child Benefit
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many households stopped receiving child benefit following the introduction of (a) the two child benefit cap and (b) means testing in (i) Telford constituency, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by James Murray
Child Benefit is a non-means tested benefit payable to families as a contribution towards the cost of raising children. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax charge for families in receipt of Child Benefit payments on higher individual incomes, of £60,000 or more. These families can either get the Child Benefit payments and pay the tax charge or opt out of receiving the payments, and not have to pay the HICBC.
The number of families opting out of Child Benefit payments by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency, region and country can be found in table 12 in the latest annual Child Benefit statistics release: Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK.
The number of those paying the tax charge by region and country can be found in table 17 of the same publication. These figures relate to 2022 to 2023 tax year when the HICBC threshold was £50,000.
The policy to provide support for a maximum of two children in Universal Credit does not apply to Child Benefit.
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