UK Child Benefit Calculator 2026/27

Child Benefit sounds simple on paper, a flat weekly payment per child, but the High Income Child Benefit Charge means many families are not sure how much they will actually keep. This calculator works out your gross Child Benefit, any HICBC clawback based on the higher earner's income, and the net amount you actually end up with.

How to use the Child Benefit calculator

Enter the number of children you are claiming for, then tell us whether you have a partner. Add your annual income, and your partner's income if you have one. The calculator always uses whichever income is higher in the household to work out the High Income Child Benefit Charge, since that is how HMRC applies the rule, regardless of which of you actually receives the payments.

How the calculation works

Child Benefit pays £26.05 a week for your eldest or only child and £17.25 a week for each additional child, with no upper limit on the number of children covered. Multiply the weekly total by 52 to get your gross annual Child Benefit. If the higher earner's income is £60,000 or below, that is the end of the calculation, you keep the full amount tax-free.

Above £60,000, the High Income Child Benefit Charge starts to bite. HMRC charges 1% of your Child Benefit back for every complete £200 of income between £60,000 and £80,000, so the charge reaches 100%, a full clawback, once income hits £80,000. Our income tax calculator can help you check exactly which tax band that income falls into, since the two calculations often need looking at together.

Worked example

Take a couple with 2 children, where one partner earns £45,000 and the other earns £65,000.

Gross Child Benefit for 2 children is £43.30 a week, or £2,251.60 a year. Since the higher earner's income of £65,000 is £5,000 above the £60,000 threshold, that is 25 complete blocks of £200, so the HICBC rate is 25%. The charge comes to £562.90, leaving the family with a net Child Benefit of around £1,688.70 for the year, paid as usual but repaid gradually through the higher earner's Self Assessment or tax code.

Common mistakes when working out Child Benefit

A common mistake is adding both partners' incomes together to check against the £60,000 threshold. The rule only looks at the higher individual income, not the combined household income, so two partners each earning £55,000 pay no HICBC at all, while one partner earning £61,000 alone triggers a small charge, even though their household income is lower. Our take-home pay calculator is useful for checking your own gross income figure accurately before you compare it against the threshold.

Another mistake is opting out of claiming Child Benefit altogether once income is high enough to lose it all through HICBC. This gives up the National Insurance credits that come with the claim, which can leave a gap in your State Pension record if you are not working or paying National Insurance another way. Our UK State Pension guide explains why a complete National Insurance record matters so much for your eventual pension.

If your income varies year to year, for example because you are self-employed, it is also worth checking your position with our self-employed tax calculator and our self-employed tax guide, since profit can be harder to predict in advance than a fixed salary, making it easy to be caught out by the HICBC at the end of the tax year.

Related calculators

Once you know your net Child Benefit, our take-home pay calculator can show your full household income picture after tax. Our income tax calculator breaks down exactly how much tax the higher earner pays by band, and our pension calculator can help you see whether you are on track for a comfortable retirement once childcare costs start to ease. If you are self-employed, our self-employed tax calculator is the best place to check your likely profit and tax position for the year.