High Income Child Benefit Charge threshold increases to £60,000

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) adjusted net income threshold increased to £60,000 from 6 April 2024, HM Revenue & Customs confirmed in a tax information and impact note published on 6 March 2024¹. The threshold had been fixed at £50,000 a year between January 2013, when the charge was introduced, and April 2024².

For individuals with income between £60,000 and £80,000, the rate at which the charge applies was halved, to one per cent for every £200 of income above £60,000¹. For individuals with income above £80,000, the amount of the tax charge equals the amount of the Child Benefit payment¹. Under the previous rules, the charge ran at one per cent for every £100 of income above £50,000, so that anyone earning £60,000 or more repaid their full Child Benefit entitlement².

The charge applies where the claimant or their partner has adjusted net income above the threshold, and it is the partner with the higher income who is liable³. Adjusted net income is total taxable income, including savings interest and dividends, calculated before Personal Allowances and less certain tax reliefs such as pension contributions and Gift Aid³. Affected families can either receive Child Benefit payments and pay the charge, or opt out of payments and not pay the charge; opting out still preserves National Insurance credits towards the State Pension and a National Insurance number for the child³.

Source: HMRC¹

HMRC's Child Benefit statistics, covering the position at 31 August 2025, record 7.55 million families claiming Child Benefit and 6.87 million families in receipt of payments, with 685,000 families having opted out of payments². The number of families opting out fell by 3.8 per cent compared with August 2024, a second consecutive annual decline following the threshold change; opt-outs had risen every year from the introduction of the charge in 2013 until 2023². The same release states that the take-up rate of Child Benefit for eligible children fell from a high of 97 per cent in 2012 to 87 per cent in 2025, and that the overall reduction is likely related to the introduction of the charge in 2013².

Why it matters for households

The threshold change affects families where the higher earner's adjusted net income falls between £50,000 and £80,000. For a household with income of £67,600, HMRC's worked example gives a repayment of 38 per cent of Child Benefit, calculated as £7,600 above the threshold divided by £200³. Families whose income sits between £60,000 and £80,000 repay less than before, and those below £60,000 face no charge at all. The charge is assessed on adjusted net income for the whole tax year, even though Child Benefit is paid weekly, so a mid-year fall in income does not reduce the charge for the part of the year when income was higher⁴. Where the charge is collected through PAYE and income falls, HMRC can adjust the tax code⁴. The charge is paid either through PAYE or Self Assessment, and Self Assessment is required where a tax return is needed for another reason, or where payment is made after 31 January in the year following the tax year concerned³.

What happens next

The £60,000 threshold applies for tax years starting from 2024 to 2025 onwards, and the £50,000 threshold applied for tax years up to and including 2023 to 2024³. The government has said it plans to move to a household system of administering the charge, rather than an individual system, from April 2026 subject to consultation, so that single earner families are not disadvantaged⁵. No further change to the £60,000 threshold has been reported.