HMRC prompts parents to re-register 16-year-olds for child benefit.
20/09/23
Did your child collect their GCSE results today? If so, depending on their chosen post-16 route, you must re-register them before 31st August 2023 (next Thursday) to continue receiving child benefit.
You should have received a letter from HMRC during your child’s last year at school, urging you to confirm their plans. Understandably, some families may have wanted to wait until their child received their GCSE results to do this, in case unforeseen circumstances impacted their plans.
Now that GCSE results day has passed, you have less than a week to respond to HMRC, in order to continue receiving your child benefit entitlement until they turn 18. Otherwise your child benefit payments will cease automatically from 31st August onwards.
What are the HMRC-approved educational routes?
If your child is taking one of the following full-time education routes approved by HMRC, then you are able to continue receiving child benefit:
- A levels (or Pre-U or International Baccalaureate if applicable)
- T levels
- Scottish Highers
- Vocational qualifications up to level 3 (including NVQs and BTECs)
- Home education (this is only if it began before your child turned 16, or afterwards if they have special educational needs/disabilities)
- Traineeships (in England)
Please also note that full-time education is classed as more than 12 hours a week (on average) of supervised study or course-related work experience).
If your child is not taking one of the routes above, there are also several approved unpaid training schemes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as follows:
Wales:
- Foundation Apprenticeships
- Traineeships, or
- the Jobs Growth Wales+ scheme
Scotland:
- the No One Left Behind programme
Northern Ireland:
- PEACE IV Children and Young people 2.1
- Training for Success, or
- Skills for Life and Work
These training routes must be unpaid and not part of a job contract.
You can re-register for child benefit here using your Government Gateway login. Alternatively, you can scan the QR code attached to the letter sent by HMRC, which will redirect you to GOV.UK.
