Child Tax Credit is available to people on a low income who are:

• Responsible for a child under 16.
• Responsible for a young person under 20 in certain types of education or training.

You don’t have to be the legal or biological parent to get Child Tax Credit. There are special rules if you are claiming for a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017.

You can get Child Tax Credit for a young person aged 16 to 19 if:

• The young person is in full-time non-advanced education (this includes education up to and including A levels, NVQ/SVQs at Level 3, Highers and equivalent.
• Or the young person is doing approved training (for example, foundation learning).

You cannot get Child Tax Credit if the young person is receiving education or training as part of their employment. If the young person is 19, you can only get Child Tax Credit for them if they started the education or training, or were enrolled or accepted to start it, before they reached their 19th birthday.

If you are already getting Tax Credits you can add a new baby to your claim, but you won’t normally get any Child Tax Credit for a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017. You will still be able to claim any disability element for a third or subsequent child. You can also get the childcare element of Working Tax Credit for any number of children, but the maximum amount of help doesn’t change if you have two children in childcare or more than two. You can find more information on our page about Tax Credits if you have more than two children.

Child Tax Credit depends on how many children you have. You can get more Child Tax Credit if you are claiming for children on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP). You can find out more about those benefits here. Your Child Tax Credit will also depend on your income.

If you have a third or subsequent child  born on or after 6 April 2017, you won’t get any extra Child Tax Credit for that child (with very limited exceptions).  You will still be able to claim any disability element for a third or subsequent child, and the childcare element of Working Tax Credit isn’t affected by the two child limit.

Whether or not you receive any Child Tax Credit will also depend on your income.

Your Tax Credit award is worked out by calculating a maximum possible award for your circumstances, made up of all the elements you are eligible for. Your income (based on either the previous tax year or an estimate of the current tax year) is then worked out and the maximum is reduced to give the amount you are entitled to receive. You can find more information on how Tax Credits are worked out from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group.

You can use a benefits calculator to work out if you are eligible (but remember you can only get Child Tax Credit if you are already claiming Tax Credits, see above). 

Working Tax Credit provides extra help if you work and you are on a low income. To get Working Tax Credit, you need to be working either 16, 24 or 30 hours a week.

If you are a couple with children you only need to work 16 hours a week if:

• Your partner receives certain benefits or National Insurance credits for sickness or disability for example, Employment and Support Allowance, Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment
• Your partner is entitled to Carer’s Allowance
• Your partner is in hospital or in prison

Whether or not you receive any Working Tax Credit will also depend on your income.

Your Tax Credit award is worked out by calculating a maximum possible award for your circumstances, made up of all the elements you are eligible for. Your income (based on either the previous tax year or an estimate of the current tax year) is then worked out and the maximum is reduced to give the amount you are entitled to receive. You can find more information on how Tax Credits are worked out from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group.

You can use a benefits calculator to work out if you are eligible (but remember you can only get Working Tax Credit if you are already claiming Tax Credits, see above). 

There are several circumstances when you will be treated as being “in work” even though you are not actually working. Although you may be absent from work, you will be treated as being in work if you were working immediately beforehand and you are:

• In the first 39 weeks of Maternity Leave or Adoption Leave
• On Paternity Leave
• On Shared Parental Leave during a period when Statutory Shared Parental Pay is paid, or would be paid if the conditions were met
• Being paid Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay or Maternity Allowance
• Being paid Statutory Sick Pay
• Being paid Employment and Support Allowance, or receiving National Insurance credits due to being incapable of work or having limited capability for work, for up to 28 weeks after being in work.
• On strike for up to ten consecutive days
• Suspended from work while complaints against you are being investigated
• Not working but were in work within the past seven days, for example, because you are on jury service or because you have a short break between jobs
• Were working 16/24/30 hours a week but have stopped, or your hours reduced below these levels, within the last four weeks

In all these cases, you will be treated as working the same number of hours as you were immediately before you stopped work or reduced your hours. It’s important to tell HMRC if you get any statutory payments or Maternity Allowance in relation to time off work as a parent. That is because not all of this money will be taken into account for Tax Credits.

If you do a predictable pattern of working such as two weeks on, two weeks off, then you can report your average hours in your Tax Credits claim. If you have a pattern of term-time working only, Tax Credits can ignore the periods when you do not work. So, for example, if you have children and work 16 hours a week during term time you may qualify for Working Tax Credit, depending on your income.

If you do not have a predictable pattern of work, you have to think about what hours you ‘normally’ work over a representative period. But if your work varies a lot and you often work less than the number of hours needed, you may find that you only qualify for Working Tax Credit during the weeks when you work more hours. You can contact HMRC for advice. If they decide you are not entitled and you disagree, you can ask for a reconsideration and if necessary appeal.

You can get help with up to 70% of your childcare costs through the childcare element of Working Tax Credit, however, you must meet work conditions to get it. If you live with a partner, the work conditions affect them too and are slightly different to the conditions for Working Tax Credit itself. See our page on help with childcare costs on Working Tax Credit for more information.