Key facts
•Child tax credit (CTC) is paid to families with children or qualifying young people.
•You do not have to have paid national insurance contributions to qualify.
•CTC is paid whether or not you or your partner are working.
•CTC does not count as income for income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance or pension credit purposes, and can be paid in addition to these benefits.
•CTC is administered and paid by HM Revenue and Customs.
•If you disagree with a CTC decision, you can apply for a mandatory reconsideration and then appeal if you are unhappy with the outcome (see
Chapter 66).
Future changes
The government says that from November 2020 (July 2019 for some claimants), the DWP will begin to transfer existing CTC claims to universal credit (UC). When this happens, your CTC claim ends and you will be invited to claim UC. See
here for further information, and CPAG’s online service and
Welfare Rights Bulletin for updates.