Tax credits if you or a member of the family goes into custody

If you or someone else in your family is sent to prison your tax credit payments may be affected. You need to tell the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible so they don't pay you too much.

On this page:

Can you still get tax credits if you - or your partner - are sent to prison?
How your tax credits payments are affected
What happens to your tax credits when you are released from prison?
What happens to your tax credits if your child gets sent to prison?
Keeping the Tax Credit Office up to date
More useful links

Can you still get tax credits if you - or your partner - are sent to prison?

If you are single, you won’t be able to get Working Tax Credit if:

you are sent to prison
you are remanded in custody awaiting trial or sentence
you are sent to a young offenders' institution

If you’re in a couple you may still be able to get tax credits if you - or your partner - are:

sent to prison
remanded in custody awaiting trial or sentence
sent to a young offenders' institution

For this to apply, the person who hasn’t gone to prison will still need to work at least 16 hours a week (or 30 hours a week in some cases). Work done inside or outside a prison whilst serving a sentence or on remand won’t count for tax credits. Any pay for this work will be counted as income when working out tax credits payments.

How work can help you qualify for tax credits

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How your tax credits payments are affected

Your tax credits payments will be affected as follows:

if you’re single, your payments will stop.
if you’re in a couple and have children you’ll still get the same amount of tax credits – as long as all your other circumstances have stayed the same.
if you’re in a couple, don’t have children and one of you is serving a custodial sentence for more than 12 months, your tax credits will change. This is because you’ll not get extra tax credits for there being a second adult in your household.

Find out how tax credits payments are worked out

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What happens to your tax credits when you are released from prison?

If you and your partner were entitled to tax credits and then you are released from prison let the Tax Credit Office know as soon as possible. They will review your tax credits entitlement.

If you weren’t entitled to tax credits whilst you were in prison, you may be able to claim tax credits again when you are released from prison, even if you are:

put on probation
electronically tagged
released on parole

How to claim tax credits

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What happens to your tax credits if your child gets sent to prison?

If your child is sentenced to:

four months or less in custody or detention, your tax credits won’t be affected
more than four months in custody or detention, you won’t get tax credits for them while they serve their sentence

Any tax credits you may be getting for your other children should stay the same.

You should tell the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible if your child is released from custody or detention. You may be able to get tax credits for them again once they are released.

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Keeping the Tax Credit Office up to date

You must tell the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible if you, your partner or your child are:

sent to prison
remanded in custody awaiting trial or sentence
sent to a young offenders' institution
released from any of the above

Telling the Tax Credit Office about these changes will help you avoid being paid too much or not enough tax credits.