High Income Child Benefit Charge Calculator

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) applies when either parent in a household has adjusted net income between £60,000 and £80,000. For every full £200 of income above £60,000, 1% of the total Child Benefit received must be repaid, through Self Assessment or, for employees, through a PAYE tax code. At £80,000 or above, the charge equals 100% of the benefit. The charge has existed since 2013, although the entry point sat at £50,000 until April 2024.

Child Benefit for 2026/27 is £27.05 per week for the eldest child and £17.90 per week for each subsequent child. For a two-child family, total annual benefit is £2,337.40, while an eldest child on their own is worth £1,407 across the year. The charge is calculated on the higher earner's income, not combined household income, so two parents can earn a good deal between them and keep the money while a single earner on £80,000 loses all of it.

Working the charge out is arithmetic rather than judgement. Take a parent on £70,000 with two children. Income of £10,000 above the £60,000 line, divided by £200, gives 50 steps of 1% each, so 50% of the benefit is clawed back and the family keeps the other half. The law rounds down at each stage: only full £200 steps count, and the charge is cut to whole pounds. This calculator shows the net benefit after the charge is applied, which is the figure that decides whether the paperwork is worth it.

The April 2024 changes brought partial relief. Until then the charge began at £50,000 and reached full clawback at £60,000, a narrow £10k taper band that produced effective tax rates of 71-77% on the income sitting inside it. Widening the band to £20k, running from £60,000 to £80,000, cut the effective marginal rate for an employee to about 49% with one child, 54% with two and 58% with three, counting 40% tax and 2% NI. Still painful, but a good deal less brutal. A plan to base the charge on household income was dropped at the Autumn Budget 2024, so it still depends on each parent's own adjusted net income.

Opting out of the payment is not the same as never claiming. Parents can choose to keep receiving Child Benefit and pay the charge, or opt out of receiving payments. Registering the claim and then ticking the box that says do not pay me protects the claimant's National Insurance record, which matters for State Pension. The parent at home with a child under 12 collects automatic NI credits, each year worth about £358.50 a year of extra State Pension (£241.30 a week ÷ 35 years × 52). Twelve years of caring builds to around £4,300 a year for life from age 67, which can exceed £80,000 across a 20-year retirement.

Adjusted net income is the figure the charge measures, and it can be brought down legitimately. Pension contributions come off it, so paying £5,000 into a pension out of a £65k income drops the adjusted figure to £60,000 and keeps the whole of the Child Benefit. Salary sacrifice arrangements for a pension or an electric car do the same job and are often more tax-efficient than a relief-at-source pension. Gift Aid donations also reduce adjusted net income. Where a spouse earns below the threshold, it is better for them to make the Child Benefit claim rather than you.