Guardian's Allowance

Guardian's Allowance is a tax-free payment for people who are bringing up children whose parents have died. In certain circumstances you may qualify for Guardian's Allowance where only one parent has died.

Do you qualify?

You can usually get Guardian's Allowance as long as:

you’re bringing up someone else’s child or children and both their parents have died
you qualify for Child Benefit for the child or children you’re bringing up

You can't get Guardian’s Allowance unless any of the following apply to one of the parents who died:

they were born in the UK
they were from the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland
they were a family member of someone from the EEA or Switzerland
they had been in the UK for at least 52 weeks during any two-year period since they were 16 years old

If you adopt a child you can still get Guardian's Allowance as long as you were getting it before you adopted the child.

Child Benefit - do you qualify?

If one parent has died

Sometimes you can get Guardian’s Allowance if only one parent has died, for example if:

you don't know where the surviving parent is
the parents were divorced or their civil partnership has been dissolved - as long as the parent who has survived doesn’t have custody of the child and isn’t maintaining them (and there isn't a court order in place that says this should be happening)
the parents weren’t married and the mother has died but it is not known who the father is
the surviving parent is in prison with a minimum two years left to serve from the date of death of the other parent - or is detained in a hospital by court order

The EEA countries

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

How much Guardian’s Allowance will you get?

The amount of Guardian’s Allowance is £14.30 a week per child on top of the amount you get for Child Benefit.

Current Child Benefit rates

How Guardian’s Allowance is paid

Guardian's Allowance is paid with your Child Benefit payments, and is usually paid every four weeks directly into any bank, building society or National Savings and Investment (NS&I) account that accepts Direct Payment.

How Child Benefit, tax credits and Guardian's Allowance are paid

Does Guardian’s Allowance affect your other benefits?

Guardian’s Allowance doesn’t count as income if you’re claiming tax credits, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance. It is paid on top of these benefits.

Claiming Guardian's Allowance

Your Guardian’s Allowance can usually be backdated for up to three months from the date the Guardian's Allowance Unit get your claim. But sometimes they can backdate it to the point you started to qualify for Child Benefit.

It is best to make your claim straight away to avoid losing money. You should claim Guardian’s Allowance as soon as the child involved comes to live with you.

Try to claim both Guardian’s Allowance and Child Benefit at the same time so that the Guardian's Allowance Unit can deal with them both together. If you can’t apply for Guardian’s Allowance straight away, make sure you apply for Child Benefit.

When you claim you will need to provide:

the child’s original birth certificate
the original death certificate for the parent or parents

The Guardian's Allowance Unit cannot normally accept photocopies.

Where to get a claim form

You can:

print out a blank Guardian’s Allowance claim form and fill it in by hand
get a claim pack by contacting the Guardian's Allowance Unit

Before you complete the claim form, please read the notes that go with it.

Once you have completed your form, please send it back to the Guardian’s Allowance Unit at the address shown below.

Changes you need to tell the Guardian's Allowance Unit about

There are many changes that may affect your entitlement to Guardian’s Allowance and also Child Benefit.

If you are getting Guardian’s Allowance because one parent is dead and the surviving parent is in prison or in hospital, you must tell the Guardian's Allowance Unit if the surviving parent:

leaves prison or hospital
has their sentence reduced
starts to pay towards their child’s upkeep

There are other changes that may also affect your entitlement to both Guardian’s Allowance and Child Benefit. For example you must tell the Guardian's Allowance Unit if:

the child you get Guardian’s Allowance for goes to live with someone else
you go abroad
your child leaves full-time education or approved training
the whereabouts of the surviving parent becomes known

Other changes may also delay your payments. It is very important to tell the Guardian's Allowance Unit if you:

change the account you get your Guardian’s Allowance and Child Benefit paid into - otherwise your payments may be going to the wrong place
change your address - if the Guardian's Allowance Unit can’t contact you at the address they have, your payments may stop until they know where you are living

For a more complete list of changes that affect your Guardian's Allowance and Child Benefit, follow the link below.

Child Benefit - which changes you need to report

If you're not happy with a decision on your claim

If the Guardian's Allowance Unit has looked at your Guardian’s Allowance claim or your details and have come to a decision that you don't agree with, contact them within a month of the decision date. You can ask them to:

explain how they reached their decision
check your claim again to make sure their decision was the right one

It's your right to get a proper explanation about a Guardian’s Allowance decision.

If the Guardian's Allowance Unit re-checks your claim, they will either change their decision if they got it wrong, or stick with their original decision.

If you're still not happy, you can appeal against their decision. If you go ahead with an appeal, they will pass it on to an independent body, the Appeals Service, to look at.

The appeals process for Guardian’s Allowance is the same as the one for Child Benefit.

Appealing against a Child Benefit decision

Contacting the Guardian’s Allowance Unit

You can get in touch with the Guardian’s Allowance Unit in a number of ways. You can send in your query online, or you can call the Unit on 0845 302 1464 or textphone 0845 302 1474 from Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 5.00 pm, (except for bank holidays).

Alternatively you can write to:
The Guardian's Allowance Unit
Child Benefit Office
PO Box 1
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE88 1AA.

Send the Child Benefit Office your Guardian's Allowance query online

Guardian's Allowance