Child Benefit education and training condition changes come into force

The regulations amend the Child Benefit (General) Regulations 2006¹.

The definition of "full-time education" in regulation 1(3) of the 2006 regulations is replaced. Education now counts where time spent during term time receiving tuition, engaging in practical work, supervised study or taking examinations on average exceeds 12 hours per week, or, for a person who has an illness or physical or mental disability, is any number of hours appropriate to that person's individual circumstances¹. The previous requirement that a person must undertake a full-time course, where they are unable to because of illness or a physical or mental disability, is removed¹.

The regulations also remove appropriate full-time education within section 4 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 from the education and training condition, and omit paragraphs (3) and (5) of regulation 3 of the 2006 regulations, which had required a qualifying young person either to have received education provided other than at a school or college as a child, or to meet prescribed conditions¹. The 2006 regulations as they stood at 1 September 2025 record the omitted provisions as removed by virtue of the 2025 instrument².

The explanatory note states that a full impact assessment has not been produced for the instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen¹.

Contact, an independent charity, describes the effect as relaxing the rules around the type of education a young person can be receiving and the number of hours of attendance accepted for a claim to continue beyond 16³. It says young people can now qualify if they are home educated, in some circumstances including where home education began after their 16th birthday, and that young people with disabilities can qualify while studying fewer than 12 hours each week, provided the hours are the maximum they can manage because of their health condition, disability or illness³.

Contact notes the Child Benefit rules are now quite different from Universal Credit, and that a young person may qualify for Child Benefit while the child elements of Universal Credit cannot be claimed for them³. For Universal Credit child elements, it says the course must normally be more than 12 hours a week during term time, including classes, tuition and supervised study but not meal breaks or unsupervised study³.

Why it matters for households

Child Benefit for a young person normally continues until the September after their 16th birthday, after which it depends on their circumstances³. The Child Benefit office writes to claimants during the school year in which their child turns 16, asking whether they will stay in full-time education or approved training and when they expect to leave; payments stop if the claimant says the young person is leaving, or if the form is not returned³. Where a young person stays in the relevant education or training, payments can usually continue at least until their 19th birthday, and Child Benefit can continue until the young person's 20th birthday if they are completing a course started, enrolled on or accepted onto before turning 19³.

The changes affect which courses and hours count from 1 September 2025, including for young people with a disability or illness and those educated at home¹. Contact states that if a course is not classed as approved training, Child Benefit and other payments claimed for the young person as part of the family will stop³. It also states that if a young person claims Universal Credit in their own right, payments claimed for them as a dependent must stop immediately³.

What happens next

The regulations came into force on 1 September 2025 and no further commencement dates are set out in them¹. No date has been reported for updated HMRC guidance on how the amended condition will be applied to individual claims.

Households can read our guides to Child Benefit after 16 and claiming for a child, or the wider benefits guide.