Were you wrongly refused Child Benefit or Tax Credits?
3 mins read
Thursday 14 May 2026
This advice applies in England only.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is currently undertaking an exercise to identify families in England wrongly refused Child Benefit or Child Tax Credit payments for a 16–18-year-old being educated outside of school or college.
What was the error?
In 2014, the Child Benefit and Tax Credits rules were changed to allow parents in England to claim benefit for a 16–18-year-old who was being educated as part of a “study programme” provided outside of school or college. The study programme could be at home or elsewhere.
However, these new rules weren’t worded properly. They unintentionally removed the requirement for the young person to be involved in more than 12 hours study per week. As a result, according to the rules a young person on a study programme was eligible even if they were in less than 12 hours study.
Some HMRC decision makers assumed that the 12-hour rule still applied to those on study programmes. They wrongly refused benefit to families whose young person was being educated outside of school or college for less than 12 hours a week.
What is HMRC doing about this?
Since October 2025, HMRC have been carrying out a correction exercise. The aim is to identify families who were underpaid either Child Benefit or Child Tax Credit.
They believe around 500 families may have lost out, but have only been able to identify a very small number of these families themselves. They are now asking families who think they may have lost out to identify themselves.
Who missed out and is due arrears?
HMRC say that the parents or guardians who may be due arrears will be those refused Child Benefit/tax credits payments because their young person was studying for less than 12 hours a week and where the young person was:
- Aged between 16 and 18 at that time.
- Living in England.
- Being educated somewhere other than a school, or college.
- And where the local authority had assessed that education as suitable for that disabled young person.
HMRC say they can correct any wrong Child Benefit decisions made since 2014. They can correct any wrong tax credits decisions made since March 2019.
What should you do?
If you think you may be affected by these rules, contact HMRC as soon as possible. You may be asked to provide a letter from your local authority confirming that the education being provided at the time was suitable for your disabled young person.
If you think you missed out on Child Benefit, contact the Child Benefit office helpline by calling 0300 322 9620. You can also write to HM Revenue and Customs: Child Benefit Office, PO Box 1, Newcastle upon Tyne NE88 1AA.
If you think you missed out on Child Tax Credit, contact the tax credits office by calling 0345 300 3900. Or you can write to HM Revenue and Customs, Tax Credit Office BX9 1ER.