This morning, ‘Child Benefit’ was a trending search term on Google. ‘Why did I only get £21.80 child benefit?’ was the main question – alongside search terms like ‘Why is my child benefit low this month?’ and ‘HMRC child benefit payments’. With 17 variations of the question sending Google searches through the roof, it’s clear there’s been a major issue with parents receiving the proper sum from the government. So what happened?
Why is child benefit only £21.80 this month?
According to reports, may parents were left surprised this week when their child benefit payment was lower than expected – or came through early. With the current cost of living crisis delivering daunting news every week, this caused further worry for families already struggling.
Taking to social media to discuss this issue, some were concerned that this will be the only form of help they’ll get for the month. Typically, child benefit is paid monthly, with single parents or those on income benefits able to request weekly payments. Anyone raising a child under the age of 16 – or under 20 if they’re in approved education or training – is eligible. However, if one parent earns more than £50,000, some of that Child Benefit is paid back in tax. According to Citizens Advice, child benefit amounts to £21.80 a week for your first child and to £14.45 a week for any children after that.
Many say that they received lower sums than expected this month. And it may just be the Queen’s fault… since it is all to do with the platinum jubilee.
According to the HMRC, child benefit payments were lower this month or came early because the payment date falls on the same week as the bank holiday.
‘If you are a Child Benefit customer, you may get full or partial payments earlier than expected due to the upcoming bank holidays,’ they stated on Twitter. ‘Customers don’t need to call - everyone will still get their full payment by their expected date.’
So, if you normally get Child Benefit every month and yours is due on May 30, you'll get one week’s worth of payment on May 27 and the remaining three on May 30. However, if your payment is due on May 31 you’ll get one week’s worth of payment on May 30 and the rest on May 31. Read the full thread demystifying the child benefit payments confusion here:
So, there you have it – all your Child Benefit questions answered!