Child Benefit if your child lives with someone else

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.

The first eight weeks after a child leaves home

If your child leaves home to live with someone like a friend or relative, you may still get 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.

What happens if there is more than one claim for Child Benefit for the same child

After eight weeks

You will keep getting Child Benefit for more than eight weeks if:

you're contributing towards your child's upkeep (see the section just below for more information about what types of contribution count)
you're contributing at least as much as the Child Benefit you get for your child
the person who your child's living with hasn't claimed

All of these must apply.

Types of contribution that count

The amount you're contributing needn't just be money. It can include:

clothes
birthday and Christmas presents
food
pocket money

You might also contribute by providing somewhere for your child to live. For example, you could:

transfer the house to your partner - the transfer could count as a weekly amount of maintenance but only if you agree this with the Child Benefit Office
contribute a regular amount to cover your share of the interest on the house where your child lives

Amount and frequency of payments or contributions

The amount you contribute must be worth at least as much as the Child Benefit you get for your child.

Frequency - how often must you contribute?

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 treat this as if you've contributed for the whole period.

More than one child

You can make contributions to cover more than one of your children. The Child Benefit Office will treat them as being split equally between your children unless you ask them to consider something else

If two or more people make contributions for the same child

If you contribute towards your child's upkeep with someone else, like your partner, the Child Benefit Office will count the contributions together. They do this to work out if you can keep getting Child Benefit. The total contributions 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

Payments under a court order or agreement

You might make maintenance payments covering the cost of your child's upkeep, under a court order, deed or binding agreement.

These are treated as a contribution towards your child - as long as the order or agreement actually covers your child's upkeep. If it doesn't, your payments are treated as income of the person looking after your child, instead of a contribution.

The Child Benefit Office may treat you as paying towards your child even if they don't live with the person you're paying maintenance to. However, you must still be contributing to your child's upkeep. Either of the following must apply:

you arrange for the payments to go to the person - or home - looking after your child
you directly pay the person who is looking after your child

Contacting the Child Benefit Office to tell them you have stopped contributing

You must let the Child Benefit Office know if you stop making contributions towards your child's upkeep. You can do this online using the link below, or you can contact the Child Benefit Helpline

The Child Benefit Office will check whether you should keep getting Child Benefit.