Sarah Bradford explains how to reinstate child benefit following changes to the high income child benefit charge from April 2024.
The high income child benefit charge (HICBC) claws back child benefit where either the claimant or their partner has adjusted net income in excess of the trigger threshold.
The threshold increased from 6 April 2024, while the clawback rate was reduced from the same date. As a result of these changes, many parents who previously lost all the child benefit to the charge will now be able to keep some or all of it, and where they had previously opted not to receive child benefit, they will need to restart their payments.
Nature of the HICBC and recent changes
The payment of child benefit is not itself means tested; instead, the HICBC charge works to restrict the benefit to those parents where neither the claimant, nor their partner if
