The Chancellor will increase the high income child benefit charge threshold from £50,000 to £60,000 from April 2024
In a major overhaul of the scheme the criteria will be changed to a household rather than an individual basis by April 2026.
The rate at which HICBC is charged will also be halved so that child benefit is not fully withdrawn until individuals earn £80,000 or above.
This is set to remove 170,000 from paying this charge and save half a million families up to £1,300 a year from 2024.
However, anyone earning over £80,000 will end up having to pay the whole benefit back, this has been reduced from £100,000.
Currently, anyone earning over the £50,000 threshold has to pay back some of the benefits if they are opting into it, as well as fill out a tax return. This is if just one parent in a two-parent household is earning over this, frequently leading to HICBC cases, which drag on for years at the first tier and upper tier tribunal.
Now, with Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget announcement, this is set to change from April 2026, to take into account earnings as a household and not an individual. Previously a two-parent household could both earn £49,000 and receive the full benefit, but if one person slips over the threshold the household is penalised.
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