2. Who is eligible
You qualify for child benefit if:1ss141-47 SSCBA 1992 •you are responsible for a child or ‘qualifying young person’ – ie:
◦s/he lives with you; or
◦you contribute to the cost of supporting her/him at a rate of at least the amount of child benefit for her/him; and
•you have priority over other potential claimants. Only one person can get child benefit for a particular child. There is an order of priority for who receives it where two or more people would otherwise be entitled; and
•you are ‘present and ordinarily resident’ in Britain, not a ‘person subject to immigration control’ and have a ‘right to reside’. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.
You do not have to be the child’s parent to claim child benefit for her/him.
Being a student, whether full or part time, does not affect your entitlement to child benefit.
If you are a ‘qualifying young person’ (see here), your parent or someone else who is responsible for you may be able to claim child benefit. You cannot, however, claim child benefit for yourself. If a qualifying young person gets universal credit, income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance, working tax credit or child tax credit in her/his own right, any child benefit paid for the young person stops.
If a young person lives with a partner, or is married or in a civil partnership, you can get child benefit for her/him if s/he lives with you or you still contribute to her/his support, but only if her/his partner is in ‘relevant education’ (see here) or approved training. The young person’s partner cannot be the claimant. In some circumstances, special rules apply – eg, if your child is being looked after by a local authority or is in prison or a young offenders’ institution.