Child Benefit - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In the UK, child benefit is administered by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). As of April 2010, £20.30 per week is paid for the first child (including the eldest of a multiple birth) and £13.40 per week is paid for each additional child. The same amount is currently paid without reference to earnings or savings, although this will change from 2013. More than 80% of children are in families also eligible for means-tested child tax credit.

The system was first implemented in August 1946 as "family allowances" under the Family Allowances Act 1945, at a rate of 5s (= £0.25) per week per child in a family, except for the eldest. This was raised from September 1952, by the Family Allowances and National Insurance Act 1952, to 8s (= £0.40), and from October 1956, by the Family Allowances Act and National Insurance Act 1956, to 8s for the second child with 10s (= £0.50) for the third and subsequent children. By 1955, some 5,000,000 allowances were being paid, to about 3,250,000 families.

It was modified in 1977, with the payments being termed "child benefit" and given for the eldest child as well as the younger ones; by 1979 it was worth £4 per child per week. In 1991, the system was further altered, with a higher payment now given for the first child than for their younger siblings. In October 2010, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced that Child Benefit would be withdrawn from households containing a higher-rate taxpayer from January 2013.