As well as the Child Trust Fund (CTF) voucher, children in families with lower incomes will automatically get an additional payment of £250 from the Government once a CTC award has been finalised. This will be paid directly into the accounts of children who live in families receiving Child Tax Credit (CTC), where household income is not greater than the CTC threshold of £15,575 for 2008/09.
A CTC award must be in place for the time at which Child Benefit is awarded to get the extra payment. As CTC claims can only be backdated 3 months make sure you don't leave it too late.
For previous years' CTC thresholds use this link
Qualification for the additional payment is always based on the date that Child Benefit was first paid for the eligible child.
There are also some people who are claiming other benefits and have not moved to CTC. Do not worry if you are in this group. Your child will still be eligible for the extra £250 if your household income was below the CTC threshold and you were receiving one of the following benefits when Child Benefit was first paid:
- the child and young person’s credit in working families’ tax credit
- the child and young person’s credit in disabled person’s tax credit
- children’s allowance in income support, or
- children’s allowance in jobseeker’s allowance.
If your CTC claim is finalised before your child’s CTF account is opened, any additional amount due will be paid into the account after it is opened. But remember you must have a CTC award and family income under the CTC threshold when Child Benefit is first paid for your child.
The additional payment isn't paid until the CTC claim is finalised.This is because CTC depends on your actual income in a tax year (6 April in one calendar year to 5 April in the next), even though it is paid throughout the year based on your estimated earnings. Once you have given HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) details of your actual income for the year, and your CTC award is finalised, HMRC will make the payment to your child’s account.
To give you an example of how this will work: if you start claiming CTC for the first time on 6 April you won't be able to finalise your claim until after the following 5 April and will have to wait over 12 months before the extra £250 is paid into your child’s account. But if you started claiming CTC on 6 February, you may only have to wait a few months before receiving the additional payment.
HMRC will write to let you know that this payment has been made.
More information
More about Tax Credits on the HM Revenue & Customs website
Children born between 1 September 2002 and 5 April 2005
FAQ
Further information about what you will get
