How to Restart Child Benefit Payments After Opting Out (2026/27)

This guide is general information, not advice.

Many families stop Child Benefit payments because the higher earner’s income would make the High Income Child Benefit Charge cancel most or all of it. When that income falls — a job change, reduced hours, a larger pension contribution — the payments can be switched back on without making a new claim.

This guide is for anyone who opted out because of the charge and wants payments again. By the end you will know how to restart, when money arrives, whether earlier weeks can be paid, and what it means for the charge this year. How the charge is calculated is in HICBC explained; making a first claim is in our Child Benefit claim guide.

Before you start

• Check you can restart. GOV.UK’s restart page says you must have previously opted out because of the tax charge and must still qualify for Child Benefit.
• An estimate of both partners’ adjusted net income for the tax year. The charge falls on the partner with the higher adjusted net income if it is over £60,000 (GOV.UK overview).
• HMRC sign-in details. The online service and online form need you to sign in; you can create details if you do not have them.
• Whether you act for someone else. Appointees and authorised agents cannot use the online service or the online form, so they have to phone or write.

Step-by-step

1. Decide whether restarting pays. From the restart date, the higher earner owes the charge on the Child Benefit received if their adjusted net income is over the threshold (GOV.UK). Below £60,000 there is no charge; from £80,000 the charge equals the benefit. Estimate with our HICBC calculator or HMRC’s Child Benefit tax calculator. GOV.UK’s make a change page confirms you can restart at any time.

2. Restart online. Use HMRC’s online service or the online form, both linked from the restart page. HMRC’s 18 May 2026 release adds that families “can opt back in and restart their payments quickly and easily on the HMRC app or online” — see how to use the HMRC app.

3. Or phone or write. If you cannot, or may not, use the online routes, contact the Child Benefit Office by phone or post.

4. Ask about earlier weeks if the year qualifies. A restart normally covers only weeks beginning after it is made (section 13A(6)). Section 13A(7) lets you revoke the opt-out for weeks in a tax year you were not paid, where no one would have been liable to the charge on those payments, no later than two years after the end of that tax year. HMRC’s manual CBTM03130 also applies it where the charge would have been less than the Child Benefit. GOV.UK says the office will write to tell you how much backdated payment you will get, if any.

5. Sort out the tax side. If the higher earner will be over £60,000, they pay the charge on what is received from the restart date: through their tax code if eligible (how to pay HICBC through your tax code) or on a Self Assessment return. If their income has fallen below the threshold and they were in Self Assessment only for the charge, they must tell HMRC they no longer need to send a return (GOV.UK).

Deadlines and what happens next

• When the restart takes effect: on the Monday after HMRC receives it, or a later date you ask for (CBTM03130).
• First payment: GOV.UK says it can take up to 28 days after the Child Benefit Office gets your request. Child Benefit is then usually paid every 4 weeks (GOV.UK).
• Backdating request: no later than two years after the end of the tax year concerned (section 13A(7)). For 2026/27, which ends on 5 April 2027, that is by 5 April 2029.
• Backdated amount: the Child Benefit Office writes to tell you.
• Changes after restarting: you must still report changes in family life that affect your Child Benefit.

National Insurance credits are not affected by having opted out. GOV.UK’s overview says an opted-out claimant stays registered and still gets credits towards the State Pension, and the Child Benefit guide says credits come automatically while your child is under 12.

Common mistakes

• Making a new claim instead of restarting. If you opted out, your claim still exists; use the restart routes.
• Assuming the charge disappears. It depends on the higher earner’s adjusted net income for the whole year, not the month you restart.
• Leaving Self Assessment untouched. If the return was only for the charge and income is now below the threshold, tell HMRC promptly — GOV.UK warns of a penalty if you leave it late.
• Waiting too long to ask about earlier weeks. The section 13A(7) window closes two years after the tax year ends.
• Appointees trying the online form. It is not available to them; phone or write.

Worked example

Child Benefit for 2026/27 is £27.05 a week for the eldest child and £17.90 for each additional child (GOV.UK rates), so £44.95 a week for two children.

A family opted out in an earlier year. The higher earner moves to a job with adjusted net income of £70,000 for 2026/27. They restart and the restart takes effect from Monday 12 October 2026, leaving 26 weeks in the tax year: £1,168.70 of Child Benefit. The charge is 1% per £200 over £60,000, so 50%, or £584.35. The family keeps £584.35 after the charge. Because the charge is less than the benefit, CBTM03130 also lets them ask for the 27 earlier weeks (£1,213.65), which would carry a further 50% charge of £606.83 and leave them £606.82 better off, provided they ask by 5 April 2029.

If instead the higher earner’s adjusted net income for 2026/27 turned out to be £58,000, there would be no charge at all. Under section 13A(7) they could then ask to be paid for the 27 unpaid weeks from 6 April to 11 October 2026 (another £1,213.65), as long as they ask by 5 April 2029.

Related reading

• Child Benefit claim guide 2026/27 — eligibility, rates and first claims.
• HICBC explained — how the charge is worked out and ways to reduce it.
• How to pay HICBC through your tax code — the PAYE route if the charge still applies.