Child Benefit claim form

Claim online
You can use the online service to claim Child Benefit or add another child to an existing claim.
It’s quick and easy to claim online, or through the HMRC app, and you could get your first payment in as little as 3 days.
To claim online, go to www.gov.uk/claim-child-benefit
You can view and manage your claim quickly and easily by downloading the HMRC app.
If we need you to send us more information, we’ll let you know.
If you cannot claim online, fill in this form and send it to us.

Is your or your partner’s income more than £50,000?

If either you or your partner has an individual Adjusted Net Income (ANI) of more than £50,000 in any tax year, the person with
the higher income may have to pay a tax charge on some or all of the Child Benefit you get. It’s called the High Income Child
Benefit Charge.
ANI is an individual’s total taxable income, including any taxable benefits before any Personal Allowances and minus certain
tax reliefs.
You must check if your or your partner’s individual ANI is more than £50,000, every year you claim Child Benefit
– to ensure you pay the correct tax charge.
You can find out more, including how much you may have to pay at www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge
You may decide not to get Child Benefit payments, in which case the tax charge will not apply. It’s still important that
you claim Child Benefit to protect your State Pension (you’ll get National Insurance credits until your child turns 12)
and help your child get their National Insurance number automatically at 16.

How the tax charge works

You and your partner both have an The person with the highest income has The person with the highest income has
individual income of less than £50,000 income between £50,000 and £60,000 income of more than £60,000

You will not need to pay the tax charge The Child Benefit you or your partner The Child Benefit you or your partner
unless your income or your partner’s get will be more than the tax charge. get will be the same as the tax charge.
income goes over £50,000 in any year The person with the higher income must You can decide not to get the Child
in the future notify HMRC and pay the tax Benefit payments. Or the person with
charge each year by registering for the higher income must notify HMRC
Self Assessment. Or you can decide not and pay the tax charge each year by
to get Child Benefit Payments registering for Self Assessment

You should fill in and send us this form even if you decide not to get Child Benefit
payments. If you do not want to get Child Benefit payments, answer ‘no’ to question 62

How to fill in this form

You need to:
• answer all the questions that apply to you, writing clearly in capital letters
• send us the documents we ask for to avoid delays to your claim
We can only backdate Child Benefit claims for up to 3 months. So even if you do not have all your documents,
make your claim now and send us these as soon as you can.

For more information on Child Benefit, go to www.gov.uk/child-benefit

For help filling in this form, read the CH2 Notes, ‘Child Benefit: Getting your claim right’.

Do not delay making your claim because Child Benefit can only be backdated up to 3 months

CH2 Page 1 HMRC 10/23

 1 About you

1 Do you have a National Insurance number? 9 Tell us your last address

Read page 3 of the CH2 Notes.

No

Yes If Yes, tell us your National Insurance number

Postcode
Q Q 1 2 3 4 5 6 A

10 Your mobile number or landline if you do not have

2 Your title a mobile
For example Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mr or Dr We may contact you about your claim. Our number may
not show up if we call you.

Telephone number

3 Your last name or family name

What time of day is best for us to phone you?
For example, morning, afternoon or evening (we’re only
able to call up to 8pm).

4 Your first name and any middle names

First name
11 What is your nationality?
Middle names
This is shown on your passport if you have one,
for example, British, Irish, French, Polish.
5 Have you ever been known by any other last names Nationality
or family names including your maiden name?

No 12 Have you claimed Child Benefit for any children before?

Yes If Yes, tell us the other names No If No, go to question 14

Other names Yes If Yes, go to question 13

13 Are you currently entitled to or receiving Child Benefit?

6 Your date of birth

D D M M Y Y Y Y No If No, go to question 14

For office Yes If Yes, tell us the full name and date of birth
use 1 7 Your address
of the eldest child you’re entitled
to or currently receiving Child Benefit for,
then go to question 14

Child’s last name

Postcode

Child’s first name

8 Have you lived at this address for more than 12 months?

No If No, go to question 9
Child’s middle names
Yes If Yes, go to question 10

Child’s date of birth

D D M M Y Y Y Y

Page 2 Online
 1 About you continued About you continued

14 Have you always lived in the UK? 21 Do you work in another country or receive benefit
By this we mean you’ve never lived outside the UK. from another country, or have you at any time in the
Read page 3 of the CH2 Notes. last 3 months?

No I’ve lived outside the UK, go to question 15 No If No, go to question 22

Yes I’ve always lived in the UK, go to question 22 Yes If Yes, tell us the name of the country

Country
15 Do you usually live in the UK?
Read page 3 of the CH2 Notes.
22 Are you a member of HM Forces or a civil servant
No If No, go to question 16 working abroad?

Yes If Yes, go to question 17 No Yes

16 Which country do you usually live in? 23 What is your marital or civil partnership status?
Tick one box that applies. We consider you single for
Country
Child Benefit purposes unless you live with a partner.

17 Tell us the date you arrived in the UK Married or in a civil partnership, go to question 24

D D M M Y Y Y Y Living with a partner as if you’re married or a

civil partner since
18 Are you subject to immigration control now, or have D D M M Y Y Y Y
you been at any time in the last 6 months? go to question 24
Read page 3 of the CH2 Notes.
Widowed, go to question 34

No If No, go to question 20 Separated since

Yes If Yes, go to question 19 D D M M Y Y Y Y

go to question 34
For
office 19 If you’ve been subject to immigration control in Divorced, go to question 34
use 2
the last 3 months, tell us the date your immigration
status was granted Single, go to question 34

D D M M Y Y Y Y
2 About your partner
20 What is your employment status?
Tick the box or boxes that apply. 24 Your partner’s full name
You only need to answer this question if
you’ve ever lived outside of the UK.

Looking for work in the UK 25 Your partner’s date of birth

D D M M Y Y Y Y
Employed in the UK

Self-employed in the UK 26 Your partner’s National Insurance number

Read page 3 of the CH2 Notes.
None of these – I’ve enough money to support
my family in the UK Q Q 1 2 3 4 5 6 A

27 Your partner’s nationality

This is shown on their passport if they have one,
for example British, Irish, French, Polish.

Nationality

Page 3
2 About your partner continued About your partner continued

28 What is your partner’s employment status? 31 Is your partner entitled to Child Benefit now or are they
Tick the box or boxes that apply. waiting to hear if they can get Child Benefit?

Looking for work in the UK No If No, go to question 34

Yes If Yes, go to question 32

Employed in the UK

32 What is the full name of the eldest child your partner is

Self-employed in the UK
entitled to Child Benefit for?

None of these – they have enough money to Child’s last name

support their family in the UK

29 Is your partner a member of HM Forces or a civil servant Child’s first name
working abroad?

No Yes
Child’s middle names

30 Does your partner now, or have they at any time in the

last 3 months, worked in another country or received
benefit from another country?
33 Child’s date of birth

No If No, go to question 31 D D M M Y Y Y Y

Yes If Yes, tell us the country

Country

3 Children you want to claim for

You do not need to tell us about children you already get Child Benefit for.

Important information 34 How many children are you claiming for on this form?
If this Child Benefit claim is for a newborn child, you
should register their birth before you send your claim
to us or a decision on your claim could be delayed.
Child Benefit can be backdated for up to 3 months. 35 How many original birth certificates, adoption certificates,
Do not send us a birth certificate if either: passports and/or travel documents are you sending us?
• the child’s birth was registered in England, Wales If you do not send original documents a decision on your
or Scotland as we can check their birth information claim may be delayed
• you or someone else has claimed for this child in
the past
Birth certificates – only send if the child’s birth
Documents we need was registered in Northern Ireland or outside
If the child’s birth was registered in Northern Ireland the UK
or outside the UK, send us a birth certificate for each
child in this claim. Adoption certificates
If your child is adopted, you should send us the
adoption certificate. Passports
If any child in this claim was born outside the UK we also
need to see their passport(s) or their travel documents Travel documents
used to enter the UK.
We’ll normally return your documents within 4 weeks.
If you do not send the documents we need with the
claim form, a decision on your claim will be delayed.

Page 4
 3 Children you want to claim for - Child 1
36 Child’s full name including last or family name Have you or anyone else ever claimed Child Benefit for
43
As shown on their birth or adoption certificate.
this child? Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.
Child’s last name
No If No, go to question 45

Yes If Yes, go to question 44

Child’s first name
44 What is the name and address of the person who
claimed Child Benefit for this child?
Child’s middle names Name

Address

37 Is this child male or female?

Postcode

Male Female For

office
45 Does this child live with you in the UK? use 5
For
official 38 Child’s date of birth Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.
use box 3

D D M M Y Y Y Y
No If No, tell us the name and address of the
person the child lives with
39 Has this child’s birth been registered in England, Wales
or Scotland? Name

Address
No If No, send the documents as shown on
page 4 of this form – ‘Documents we need’
Postcode
Yes If Yes, and they were born in England or Wales,
do not send any documents, tell us the 9 digit
Yes
Name If Yes, go to question 46
system number from the bottom left hand
For
corner of their birth certificate – office

read page 4 of the CH2 Notes 46 Has this child lived with anyone else at a different use 6

address to you in the last 12 months?

Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.

Yes If Yes, and they were born in Scotland, do not No If No, go to question 48
send any documents, tell us the district
number, year and entry number from their Yes If Yes, tell us their name, address and
birth certificate – read page 4 of the CH2 Notes telephone number

Name

Address
40 Has this child ever been known by any other name?

No Yes If Yes, tell us the other name Postcode

Name
Name Telephone number
Child’s other name

47 What date did the child come to live with you?

41 Has the name been changed by deed poll?

No Yes D D M M Y Y Y Y
Social worker
For
office
use 4
42 Is this child your: 48 Are you adopting or planning to adopt this child
Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.
through a local authority?

Birth child Adopted child

No Yes

Stepchild None of these

For official use only

Page 5
 3 Children you want to claim for - Child 2
49 Child’s full name including last or family name 56 Have you or anyone else ever claimed Child Benefit for
As shown on their birth or adoption certificate. this child? Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.

Child’s last name

No If No, go to question 58

Yes If Yes, go to question 57

Child’s first name
57 What is the name and address of the person who
claimed Child Benefit for this child?

Child’s middle names Name

Address

50 Is this child male or female? Postcode

Male Female Does this child live with you in the UK?
For
58 office
use 9
For
Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.
office 51 Child’s date of birth
use 7

D D M M Y Y Y Y No If No, tell us the name and address of the

person this child lives with

52 Has this child’s birth been registered in England, Wales Name

or Scotland?
Address

No If No, send the documents as shown on

page 4 of this form – ‘Documents we need’ Postcode

Yes If Yes, and they were born in England or Wales,

do not send any documents, tell us the 9 digit Yes If Yes, go to question 59
system number from the bottom left hand For
59 Has this child lived with anyone else at a different office
corner of their birth certificate – use 10
address to you in the last 12 months?
read page 4 of the CH2 Notes
Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.

No If No, go to question 61

Yes If Yes, and they were born in Scotland, do not

Yes If Yes, tell us their name, address and
send any documents, tell us the district
number, year and entry number from their telephone number
birth certificate – read page 4 of the CH2 Notes Name

Address

53 Has this child ever been known by any other name?

Postcode

No Yes If Yes, tell us the other name Telephone number

Name other name

Child’s
60 What date did the child come to live with you?

54 Has the name been changed by deed poll? D D M M Y Y Y Y

No Yes Are you adopting or planning to adopt this child

61
For
office
through a local authority?
use 8 55 Is this child your:
Read page 4 of the CH2 Notes.
No Yes

Birth child Adopted child

If you want to claim for any more children, go to page 7
of the CH2 Notes and fill in the ‘Additional children’ form
Stepchild None of these

For official use only

Page 6
4 Higher income earners
Only answer question 62 if either you or your 62 Do you want to be paid Child Benefit?
partner have an individual income of more than Only answer this question if either you or your partner
£50,000 a year. have an individual income of more than £50,000 a year.
If you or your partner have an individual income of: Read page 5 of the CH2 Notes.
• more than £60,000 a year – a tax charge equal to
the Child Benefit payment will apply, so you may No I do not want to be paid Child Benefit,
not want to be paid Child Benefit but I want to protect my State Pension.
• between £50,000 and £60,000 a year – a tax charge Go to the declaration on page 8
of less than the Child Benefit payment will apply, so
you may want to be paid Child Benefit Yes I want to be paid Child Benefit.
For
I understand that I or my partner may office
If you’re not sure if either you or your partner have an use 11
have to pay an Income Tax charge.
individual income of more than £50,000, read page 2
Go to question 63
of the CH2 Notes.

5 How you want to be paid 6 Bank details

63 Do you want to be paid Child Benefit every week? 66 Tick the box which applies to you
We normally pay Child Benefit every 4 weeks into a  ead page 5 of the CH2 Notes before filling in
R
bank or building society account. this section.
Page 5 of the CH2 Notes tells you if you can be paid  e can pay Child Benefit into an account that you
W
every week. nominate if the account is capable of receiving For
direct credit transfer, for example a suitable bank or office
use 12

No If No, go to question 65 building society account.

Yes If Yes, go to question 64  The account is in my name, go to question 67

For
 The account is in someone else’s name – tell us office
64 To get Child Benefit paid every week tick all boxes which use 13
the name of the account holder in the box below
apply to you or your partner
 The account is in joint names – tell us the names
 I am a single parent of the account holders in the box below

Name 1
 I or my partner receive one or more of the following:
• Income Support Name 2
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Pension Credit
67 Name of the bank or building society
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit
For
65 Do you already get Child Benefit? 68 The branch sort code. Read page 5 of the CH2 Notes. office
use 14

— —
No If No, go to question 66

Yes If Yes, we’ll use the bank or building 69 The account number. Read page 5 of the CH2 Notes.
society account we already pay your
For
Child Benefit into. office
use 15
Go to the declaration on page 8
70 If the account is with a building society, tell us the roll
or reference number if you have it
Read page 5 of the CH2 Notes.

71  If you do not have an account that

we can pay into, put an ‘X’ in this box

Important
Fill in the declaration on page 8.

Page 7
Documents we need
If you’re making a claim for a child you’ve not claimed for before, you need to send us:
Help
• the birth certificate if their birth was registered in Northern Ireland You can find more information
or outside the UK online, go to GOV.UK and search
• the passport or travel documents used to enter the UK, if the child was not for ‘Child Benefit’.
born in the UK If your circumstances have changed,
• the adoption certificate if you’ve adopted the child go to GOV.UK and search for ‘Report
You also need to send us any extra pages you’ve filled in if you want to claim for changes that affect your Child Benefit’.
more than 2 children. If you cannot go online or need more
If you do not send all the documents we need with the claim form, a decision on your help, you can call the Child Benefit
claim could be delayed, however your payments can be backdated to the date we helpline on 0300 200 3100.
receive your claim once our decision is made. You’ll still need to send the documents If you’re a Relay UK user – 18001 then
as soon as you can after submitting your claim. 0300 200 3100.
Make sure we have the right address to return your documents. If you move without If you’re overseas – +44 161 210 3086.
telling us your new address, we’ll not be able to return your documents and we may You can also write to:
destroy them. If we believe that any of the documents you send us are not genuine, HMRC Child Benefit Office
we may keep them. PO Box 1
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
What you need to do now NE88 1AA
After you’ve signed and dated the declaration below, return your form with any
You’ll need your National Insurance
documents we need. If you do not have a pre-addressed envelope, send your form to:
number if you call or write.
Child Benefit Office (GB)
Ffoniwch 0300 200 1900 i dderbyn
Washington
fersiynau Cymraeg o ffurflenni
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
a chanllawiau.
NE88 1ZD
You’ll need a stamp for your envelope; make sure you pay the correct postage.
If you’re sending us any documents you want returning, fill in the address label (CH3)
and enclose with your claim form.

What happens next

We’ll review your claim and write to tell you if you can get Child Benefit and how
much you’ll get. We’ll normally return your documents within 4 weeks.

Declaration Tick the boxes that apply to you and sign this form to claim Child Benefit.

I’m sending the birth certificates or other documents that you need with this form.
I understand if I do not send the documents you need with this claim form, a decision on my claim will be delayed.

I declare that the information I’ve given on this form is correct and complete. If I give information which I know is not correct
or complete, you may take action against me. I’ll tell you about changes to my circumstances when they happen and
understand I could be overpaid and may have to pay money back if I do not.
Signature Date
For
office
D D M M Y Y Y Y use 16

For official use only

Corres Traced CLI Date claim received

Documents returned
Birth certificate Normal
Passport Recorded
Other Registered

Page 8
 Address label – fill in and send this back with
your completed claim form.

Name

Address line 1

Address line 2

Town/City

County

Postcode
Make sure your postcode is shown
correctly within the boxes. For example,
postcode XX1 6AA would be shown as

X X 1 6 A A
• fill in your name and address above in block capitals using a black pen
• send this address label back to us with your completed claim form
• you’ll need a stamp for the envelope - make sure you pay the correct postage
Important – if you do not send this address label with your claim form, it may take us longer to send
your documents back to you and to make a decision on your claim.

HMRC use only – we’ll use this when we send your documents back to you.

Your documents
Thank you for sending us your claim form, I have enclosed your:

Birth certificate(s) Passport(s)

Travel document(s) Adoption certificate(s)

Other document(s)

You do not need to do anything – we’ll write to you again as soon as we’ve made a decision
about your claim.

CH3 (Address label) HMRC 10/23