Families by size and children in families by age. A National Statistics Publication. Child Benefit is paid to those responsible for children (aged under 16) or qualifying young people. The latter includes: a) those in full-time non-advanced education or (from April 2006) on certain approved vocational training courses and who are under 19, or are aged 19 and have been on the same course since their 19th birthdays. (Note: those reaching 19 up to 9 April 2006 ceased to qualify on their 19th birthdays); b) those entered for future external examinations, or are in the period between leaving education (or exams finishing) and the week containing the first Monday in September (or similar dates after Easter and in early January, if earlier), and are not in work (there are slight variations for Scotland); c) those aged under 18 who have moved directly from full-time education to being registered for work or training with the Careers service or with Connexions. As of January 2013, claimants may be liable to a tax charge called the 'High Income Child Benefit charge'. Being liable for this charge does not affect a claimant's eligibility but any Child Benefit recipient is liable to repay some or all of their Child Benefit back if they or their partner has an individual income of more than £50,000 per year. For every additional £100 over the £50,000 threshold that an individual earns, the tax charge due increases by 1%. This means that any recipient whose income (or partner’s income) is over £60,000 will be liable to repay their entire Child Benefit entitlement. Alternatively, claimants affected by the High Income Child Benefit charge have the option to opt-out of receiving Child Benefit, thereby ceasing their payments. Child benefit data for Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) can be accessed on the HMRC website. Related to: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-benefit-geographical-statistics
