What is Child Benefit and who qualifies?

In this section:

What is Child Benefit?
Child Benefit - do you qualify?
Child Benefit if you adopt or foster a child
Child Benefit if your child is in care
Child Benefit for children in hospital or residential care
New arrivals to the UK and Child Benefit
Child Benefit if you're living or working abroad
Child Benefit if your child lives with someone else

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Child Benefit if you're living or working abroad

Child Benefit if you're living or working abroad

If you go abroad to live or work you may still be able to get Child Benefit. If you're only going abroad for less than eight weeks, you can carry on getting Child Benefit without doing anything further.

If you're temporarily in another country

If you expect to be out of the UK for less than 52 weeks this is called a 'temporary absence'. If you're abroad temporarily you'll be able to get Child Benefit:

for the first eight weeks - it doesn't matter why you're away
for the first 12 weeks - if you are abroad because you or a member of your family, for example your child, a brother, sister or grandparent is either getting treatment for an illness or a physical or mental disability, or dies

Child Benefit information if your child is in hospital or residential care

There are some exceptions to this:

you work in one country but you live in a different country
you're a Crown Servant posted overseas
you're posted to work in another European Economic Area (EEA) country

EEA countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The exceptions are covered in the sections below.

Living and working in different countries

You can usually only get UK Child Benefit if you live in the UK, but you might also be able to get it if you live in one of the EEA countries or Switzerland. However in some cases you might be able to claim a child allowance from the country where you work. For example you might live in Northern Ireland and work in the Republic of Ireland.

If you live in the UK but you work in another EEA country

If you live in the UK but you work in another EEA country or Switzerland, you might make contributions to the other country's social security scheme. If these are equivalent to UK National Insurance Contributions (NICs) you can claim children's allowance from that country. If the amount you get is less than the UK rate of Child Benefit, we can make up the difference.

If you live in another EEA country but you work in the UK

You may still be able to get Child Benefit if you live in another EEA country and you work in the UK. It doesn't matter whether you're employed or self employed.

If you're getting a child allowance from the country you live in and it's less than the UK rate of Child Benefit, we can make up the difference.

Find out what the current Child Benefit rates are

If you move abroad permanently

If you're going abroad permanently, or expect to be away for more than 52 weeks, you won't qualify for Child Benefit unless both of the following apply:

you are moving to an EEA country or Switzerland
you are paying UK NICs or receiving a UK National Insurance-related benefit

You'll stop qualifying on the Sunday following the day you leave the UK or on the day itself if that's a Sunday.

If your child is staying in the UK and is being looked after by someone else, that person might want to claim Child Benefit.

You must let us know if you plan to move abroad permanently or if you're likely to be away for more than a year.

Let us know you're moving abroad permanently

If you live in another EEA country and get a National Insurance-related benefit from the UK

You can usually get Child Benefit if both of the following apply:

you are living in an EEA country or Switzerland and receive a National Insurance-related benefit from the UK eg basic State Pension
you are responsible for a child

If you're getting a child allowance from the country you live in and it's less than the UK rate of Child Benefit, we can make up the difference.

Find out what the current Child Benefit rates are

If you're a UK civil servant or a member of HM Armed Forces serving overseas

Special rules apply to Crown Servants - civil servants or members of the armed forces who are posted and working abroad for the government.

You can get Child Benefit while you're working abroad so long as just before you were posted abroad you were either:

living in the UK and it was your main home
in the UK for reasons relating to your posting - not just visiting before your posting began

It doesn't matter whether your child goes with you or stays in the UK.