Feature: Where to find information on UK child benefit, Fuel Benefit now available to families and other child/family tax credits and benefits
By: Alexa Williamson
With the Government now extending a one-off £150 fuel benefit payment to families who receive child benefit*, I wanted to write this guide to UK child benefit and tax credit information resources.
Not having any kids, I wasn’t aware of all the benefits available to families with children. However, am impressed with what I’ve learned this morning.
After a brief scan of the web, benefits and tax credits available to UK families (of course certain restrictions/circumstances may apply) include…
Benefits/credits available to families
- Child Benefit
- Fuel Benefit – the one-off £150 benefit, available for families who qualify for Child Benefit
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit (that integrates with Child Tax Credit and helps working parents pay for childcare)
Child Benefit information – online resources
Anyway, some good sites for Child Benefit and Tax Credits follow…
Child Benefit (HMRC)
The official site and information on HM Revenue & Customs’ website.
UK Child Benefit (Wikipedia)
Information on UK Child Benefit on Wikipedia, which also includes a comparison with Ireland and Australia.
Tax Credit information – online resources
Official sites:
Child Tax Credit (HMRC)
HMRC’s guide to Child Tax Credit and information on funding for daycare.
Tax Credits (HMRC)
HMRC’s guide to the different types of tax credits available.
Other useful sites:
UK Child Tax Credit (Wikipedia)
General information about Child Tax Credit and how it integrates with Working Tax Credit (and getting money to help with childcare costs if a parent works.
Working Tax Credit (Wikipedia)
General information about this and how it integrates with Child Tax Credit.
Our benefits vs Ireland’s
One other thing I found interesting when doing this research is that currently, a UK child receives a lot more Child Benefit than those in Ireland.
Currently, the eldest child, in the UK, can qualify for £18.80/week and any other child gets £12.55/week.
Totals per year: First child = £977.60, other child = £652.60.
In Ireland the totals are only 166 Euros/year (£130.12/year) for a family that has 1-2 children or 203 Euros/year (£159.14) for a family that has 3+ children.
*As highlighted in an article on the front page of The Sunday Times today (10/8/08 )
Update: since writing this feature this morning, have learned that apparently 3.9 million children in the UK are part of families that are on the ‘breadline’ *
*Source: today’s News of the World (my mother’s not mine)
