The Child Benefit Charge: What To Actually Do About It
Between GBP 60,000 and GBP 80,000 your effective marginal rate depends on how many children you have. Here is the arithmetic and the decision.
Between £60,000 and £80,000 of adjusted net income, Child Benefit is clawed back at 1% for every £200 you earn. Because the amount of Child Benefit depends on how many children you have, this is the only marginal rate in the UK that varies by family size.
It is assessed on the higher earner's individual income, not on household income, which is why a couple each earning £58,000 pays nothing while a single earner on £85,000 loses all of it.
The effective rate by family size
| Children | Child Benefit a year | Charge per extra £1,000 | Effective marginal rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £1,407 | £70.33 | 49.0% |
| 2 | £2,337 | £116.87 | 53.7% |
| 3 | £3,268 | £163.41 | 58.3% |
| 4 | £4,199 | £209.95 | 63.0% |
What to actually do
Keep claiming. Even if you elect not to receive the payments, registering protects your National Insurance record for State Pension purposes and gets your child a National Insurance number automatically at 16.
If you are inside the range, a pension contribution is unusually valuable because it reduces adjusted net income pound for pound. Bringing income from £68,000 to £60,000 restores the whole benefit and costs considerably less than £8,000 of take-home. The salary sacrifice calculator prices it.
In a two-earner household it is almost always the higher earner who should make the contribution, because only their income counts towards the charge.
Questions people actually ask
At what income do you lose Child Benefit?
Is the charge based on household income?
The numbers this sits on
| Salary | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home | A month | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £2,486 | £994 | £21,520 | £1,793 | 13.9% |
| £35,000 | £4,486 | £1,794 | £28,720 | £2,393 | 17.9% |
| £45,000 | £6,486 | £2,594 | £35,920 | £2,993 | 20.2% |
| £60,000 | £11,432 | £3,210 | £45,358 | £3,780 | 24.4% |
| £85,000 | £21,432 | £3,710 | £59,858 | £4,988 | 29.6% |
| £110,000 | £33,432 | £4,210 | £72,358 | £6,030 | 34.2% |
Every figure in that table is computed from the published 2026/27 rates by the same engine that runs the calculators on this site, so a number in an article and a number in a calculator can never drift apart. National Insurance uses the statutory period thresholds real payroll uses, which is why these figures reconcile with a payslip rather than nearly reconciling with one.
| Salary | England, Wales, NI | Scotland | With a Plan 2 loan | Keep from the next £1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | 28.0% | 28.0% | 28.0% | £720.00 |
| £40,000 | 28.0% | 29.0% | 37.6% | £720.00 |
| £52,000 | 42.0% | 44.0% | 51.6% | £580.00 |
| £65,000 | 42.0% | 44.0% | 50.4% | £580.00 |
| £105,000 | 62.0% | 69.5% | 70.4% | £380.00 |
| £130,000 | 47.0% | 50.0% | 56.6% | £530.00 |
Work it out for yourself
- Take-home pay calculatorThe main calculator, all four UK nations.
- Pay rise calculatorWhat a raise really adds.
- Salary sacrificeWhat you are trading.
- Tax code checkerWhat each letter and prefix does.
Figures on this page are for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) and were last checked on 29 August 2026. Every rate we use is listed on the sources page.