Number of people set to pay high income child benefit charge soars
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Tens of thousands more families are set to pay the high income child benefit charge (HICBC) by 2028.
HMRC’s official forecasts show that the number of families owing the HICBC will rise from 324,000 in 2025–26 to 359,000 in 2028–29, an increase of roughly 35,000.
HMRC forecasts, obtained by wealth manager Quilter, show that:
- 213,000 families will be in the HICBC ‘taper’ (where they won’t owe the full amount back) in 2025/26, rising to 246,000 by 2028/29
- 111,000+ families each year will be repaying child benefit in full
Quilter said these figures highlight how frozen thresholds and wages rising to keep up with inflation are dragging more working parents into paying the charge, despite not being better off in real terms.
Our view
These figures demonstrate how working parents are being hit from all angles. Parents are already struggling with high childcare costs and the rising cost of living, and families with a £60,000 earner are no longer considered ‘well off’ compared to in the past.
Parents who hit the £100,000 earnings threshold will be even worse off, as they will lose child benefit and access to government-funded childcare hours.
The government needs to urgently lift the HICBC to ensure parents are not ending up worse off in real terms.
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