In this section:
- Child Benefit if your child is 16 or over
- Child Benefit if your child is in further education or training
- Child Benefit for under 18s who leave education or training
- Application form to extend Child Benefit
Child Benefit if your child is in further education or training
You can still get Child Benefit after your child turns 16 if they're in relevant education or training. We'll usually keep on paying it until they reach 20 as long as they were enrolled or accepted onto the course before their 19th birthday. If your child leaves relevant education or training before they're 20, Child Benefit payments usually stop.
What counts as 'relevant' education for Child Benefit?
Your child will need to be in full-time, non-advanced education. They would need to have enrolled or been accepted onto the course before their 19th birthday.
By 'full-time' we mean an average of more than 12 hours a week in term time is spent on:
- tuition
- practical work
- supervised study
- taking exams
It doesn't include breaks for meals and homework.
'Non-advanced' education includes the following:
- GCSEs
- A levels
- NVQ/SVQ level 1, 2 or 3
- BTEC National Diploma, National Certificate and 1st Diploma
- SCE higher grade or similar
This isn't a complete list. If you're not sure whether your child is in relevant education you can contact the Child Benefit Office for further advice.
Courses that don't count for Child Benefit
We can't pay Child Benefit if your child is doing an 'advanced' education course. Examples of advanced education courses include:
- a degree
- Diploma of Higher Education (DHE)
- NVQ level 4 or above
- BTEC Higher National Certificate (HNC) or Higher National Diploma (HND)
- teacher training
This isn't a complete list. If you're not sure whether your child is doing an advanced education course you can contact the Child Benefit Office for further advice.
Correspondence course
We don't usually pay Child Benefit if your child is taking a correspondence course. This is because they're unlikely to do more than 12 hours a week of supervised study.
Sandwich courses
There are two types of sandwich course:
- college-based - this is where your child spends periods away from college doing practical training with their employer
- work-based - where your child is employed as an apprentice or trainee and takes a full-time college or school course
We may pay Child Benefit if your child is on a college-based course but it would need to be full-time and non-advanced. But we don't pay it if your child is on a work-based course.
Studying abroad
We usually only pay Child Benefit for the first 12 weeks that your child is away. But we'll keep paying it after this if they are either:
- in relevant education in a country in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland
- on an educational exchange or visit providing your child has the written agreement of their school or college
What counts as 'relevant' training for Child Benefit?
We pay Child Benefit if your child is over 16 and is doing a course of 'approved' training. Your child would need to have enrolled or been accepted onto the course before their 19th birthday.
Approved courses are as follows:
- for England - Entry to Employment and Programme-led Apprenticeships
- for Wales - Skillbuild, Skillbuild+ and Foundation Modern Apprenticeships
- for Scotland - Get Ready for Work, Skillseekers and Modern Apprenticeships
- for Northern Ireland - Training for success (professional and technical
training)
A course provided by an employer as part of a job contract doesn't count as approved.
If your child leaves relevant education or training
If your child is under 18 and leaves education or training and registers for work or training or education with a relevant body, you can usually get Child Benefit extended for up to 20 weeks.
Find out about Child Benefit for under 18s who leave education or training
If there is a break to your child's education or training
You must tell us if there is a break to your child's education or training so that we can work out whether you can still get Child Benefit. We can usually carry on paying Child Benefit for up to six months if there is a good reason for the break, for example:
- your child is ill
- the college is temporarily closed
- your child is moving from one college to another
- if someone is ill or has died that is close to your child
- your child is pregnant
We don't normally pay Child Benefit if your child has taken a voluntary break in education or training, for example to travel overseas for personal reasons.
If your child doesn't go back into relevant education or training then you may have to pay back some of the Child Benefit you got during the break. The amount will depend on when your child decided not to go back.
We can often pay Child Benefit for longer than six months if your child is in hospital, residential care or getting medical treatment abroad and you still spend money on them.
Child Benefit for children in hospital or residential care
Your child goes back into relevant education or training
We can pay Child Benefit if your child takes up relevant education or training again, for example after a period of unemployment. If your Child Benefit had previously stopped because you no longer qualified for it, you can make another claim. Your child would need to have been accepted or enrolled onto the course before their 19th birthday for you to qualify.
Find out how to claim Child Benefit
Keeping the Child Benefit Office up to date
You must tell us about any changes to your child's education or training as soon as possible. If you don't, your Child Benefit payments may stop or we may overpay you. You must tell us if your child:
- starts or leaves relevant education or training earlier or later than you told us they would
- stops one course and starts another one
- goes abroad to study for longer than 12 weeks
- cuts their supervised study time to on average 12 hours or less per week during term time
- starts a course of advanced education
- enrols or is accepted onto a relevant education or training course after their 19th birthday
Find out about Child Benefit changes you need to report
Contacting the Child Benefit Office
You can contact the Child Benefit Office in a number of ways. You can tell us about any changes or ask for advice by:
- Getting in touch with us online using the relevant links below.
- Calling the Child Benefit Office Helpline on Tel 0845 302 1444 or textphone Tel 0845 302 1474. The Helpline is 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 call on Tel 0845 302 1489, and if you are telephoning from outside the UK you can call on Tel + 44 161 210 3086.
- Writing to us at: Child Benefit Office, PO Box 1, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE88 1AA.
Let us know about changes online that may affect your Child Benefit
