If your child goes to live with someone else, you may be able to keep getting Child Benefit for up to eight weeks. You might be able to get it for longer if you keep contributing towards your child's upkeep.
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If your child leaves home to live with someone like a friend or relative, the Child Benefit Office may keep paying you Child Benefit for the first eight weeks. It may be less than this if the person your child's gone to live with also makes a claim for your child.
Find out what happens if there is more than one claim for Child Benefit for the same child
You may keep getting Child Benefit for more than eight weeks if:
All of these must apply.
The amount you're contributing needn't be money. It can include:
You might also contribute by providing somewhere for your child to live. For example, you could:
The amount you contribute must be worth at least as much as the Child Benefit you get for your child.
You can make your contributions weekly, monthly or in a lump sum to cover a set period. If you miss one or two payments over a long period, the Child Benefit Office may treat this as if you've contributed for the whole period.
If you make contributions to cover more than one of your children, the Child Benefit Office treat them as being split equally between your children unless you ask them to consider something else.
If you contribute towards your child's upkeep with someone else like your partner, the Child Benefit Office will count the contributions together when working out if you can keep getting Child Benefit. The total would have to be worth at least as much as the Child Benefit you get.
Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child, so it's best to decide between yourselves who that person is.
Find out what happens if there is more than one claim for Child Benefit for the same child
You might make maintenance payments covering the cost of your child's upkeep, under a court order, deed or binding agreement.
The Child Benefit Office treats these as a contribution towards your child. But if the order or agreement doesn't cover your child's upkeep, your payments are treated as income of the person looking after your child, rather than a contribution.
If you pay towards your child's upkeep but your child doesn't live with the person you're paying maintenance payments to, the Child Benefit Office may treat you as if you're contributing towards your child. They'll do this if either of the following applies:
You must let the Child Benefit Office know if you stop making contributions towards your child's upkeep. You can do this online by using the link below, or you can call the Child Benefit Helpline.
The Child Benefit Office will check whether you should keep getting Child Benefit.
Tell the Child Benefit Office online you have stopped contributing to your child's upkeep
Contact details for the Child Benefit Helpline
Find out what the current rates of Child Benefit are
