In this section:
- What is Child Benefit?
- Child Benefit – do you qualify?
- Child Benefit if you adopt or foster a child
- Child Benefit if your child is in care
- Child Benefit for children in hospital or residential care
- New arrivals to the UK and Child Benefit
- Child Benefit if you’re living or working abroad
- child Benefit if your child lives with someone else
Child Benefit if your child lives with someone else
If your child goes to live with someone else, you may be able to keep getting Child Benefit for up to eight weeks. You might be able to get it for longer if you keep contributing towards your child's upkeep.
The first eight weeks after a child leaves home
If your child leaves home to live with someone like a friend or relative, we'll usually keep paying you Child Benefit for the first eight weeks. But it may be less than this if the person your child's gone to live with also makes a claim for your child.
Find out what happens if there is more than one claim for Child Benefit for the same child
After eight weeks
You can keep getting Child Benefit for more than eight weeks as long as:
- you're contributing towards your child's maintenance and accommodation
- you're contributing at least as much as the Child Benefit you get for your child
- the person who your child's living with hasn't claimed
All of these must apply.
If you make other types of contribution
The amount you're contributing needn't just be money. It can include things like:
- clothes
- birthday and Christmas presents
- food
- pocket money
You might also contribute by providing somewhere for your child to live. For example, you could:
- transfer the house to your partner - the transfer could count as a weekly amount of maintenance but only if you agree this with the Child Benefit Office
- contribute a regular amount to cover your share of the interest on the house where your child lives
Amount and frequency of payments or contributions
The amount you contribute must be worth at least as much as the Child Benefit you get for your child.
Frequency - how often must you contribute?
You can make your contributions weekly, monthly or in a lump sum to cover a set period. If you miss one or two payments over a long period, we'll treat this as if you've contributed for the whole period.
More than one child
If you make contributions to cover more than one of your children, we'll treat them as being split equally between your children unless you ask us to do something else.
If two or more people make contributions for the same child
If you contribute towards your child's upkeep along with someone else like your partner, we'll count all the contributions together when we work out if you can keep getting Child Benefit. The total would have to be worth at least as much as the Child Benefit you get.
Only one person can get Child Benefit, so it’s best if you try to decide between yourselves who that person should be.
Find out what happens if there is more than one claim for Child Benefit for the same child
Payments under a court order or agreement
If you make maintenance payments under a court order, deed or binding agreement then there are special rules. We treat these payments as income of the person looking after your child, rather than a contribution towards your child.
If however you are paying towards the upkeep of your child but your child doesn’t live with the person you’re paying maintenance payments to, we can treat you as if you're contributing towards your child. We'll do this if either of the following apply:
- you arrange for the payments to go to the person - or home - looking after your child
- you directly pay the person who is looking after your child
Contacting us to tell us you've stopped contributing
You must let the Child Benefit Office know if you stop making contributions towards your child's upkeep. You can do this online using the link below or you can contact our Child Benefit Helpline on Tel 0845 302 1444 or textphone Tel 0845 302 1474. Lines are open between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm, seven days a week, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
If your preferred language is Welsh you can contact us on Tel 0845 302 1489, or if you’re calling from outside the UK Tel + 44 161 210 3086.
We'll check whether you should keep getting Child Benefit.
Let us know you have stopped contributing to your child’s upkeep
More useful links
Find out what the current rates of Child Benefit are
Claiming tax credits if your child lives at more than one address
