How much is Guardian's Allowance?
Guardian's Allowance is £18.55 weekly per child. This is tax-free, and paid on top of your Child Benefit.
What is Guardian’s Allowance? How may I apply? This benefit is one of many benefits you can receive if you are taking care of a child. More specifically, if you are taking care of a child whose parents are dead. You may still be eligible if one parent is still alive but certain conditions apply. This Your Benefits article will walk you through everything that you need to know about Guardian’s Allowance.
What is Guardian’s Allowance?
You may be bringing up a child. Additionally, it may be true that their parents have died. If this is the case, you could receive Guardian’s Allowance. However, also note that you could receive the benefit if there is a surviving parent.
You may already be receiving Child Benefit. If this is the case, do not worry. Indeed, you will receive Guardian’s Allowance on top of Child Benefit.
The rate at which you will receive this benefit is £18.55 weekly. Furthermore, this amount is tax-free. However, note that you will need to inform the Guardian’s Allowance Unit if you experience a change in your situation. In fact, it may impact your payments.
How much is Guardian’s Allowance?
There is a fixed rate of Guardian’s Allowance that you can receive. Indeed, this is £18.55 weekly, for every eligible child. Furthermore, you do not need to pay any tax on these payments. Lastly, these payments are received on top of your pre-existing Child Benefit payments.
You will typically receive the payments directly in your bank account. More specifically, this will be done about every 4 weeks. Furthermore, you can receive payments in any particular account. However, this is excluding if said account is someone else’s Nationwide Building Society account.
Disclaimer
You may be in a situation where you may need payments quicker. For example, this could be the case if you are getting benefits such as Income Support, or are a single parent. Then, you may receive Guardian’s Allowance payments weekly instead.
Will Guardian’s Allowance impact my other benefits?
Guardian’s Allowance will not impact other benefits like some may. Indeed, getting it does not increase how much income you receive. As such, it will not impact the following benefits:
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA);
- Income Support;
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA);
- Tax credits.
Furthermore, you may be receiving the High Income Child Benefit Charge. If this is the case, your Guardian’s Allowance payments will not be affected. In fact, this is if you decide to not get Child Benefit on top of it.
Unlike many other benefits, Guardian’s Allowance does not count towards your total benefit cap. As such, it does not contribute to the maximum amount of benefits you can receive.
Can I get Guardian’s Allowance?
Certain things must apply in order for you to be able to receive Guardian’s Allowance. More specifically, all of the following need to be true for your situation:
- You currently qualify for Child Benefit;
- The child that you are taking care of is not your own;
- The parents of the child that you are taking care of are dead.
Furthermore, some things need to be true for the (deceased) parents. More specifically, all the following must be true for at least one of the parents:
- They were born in the UK, Switzerland or a European Economic Area (EEA) country;
- They have lived in the UK since they were 16 years old, for at least 52 weeks;
- This is for any 2-year period.
You may be adopting a child. If this is the case, you can still receive Guardian’s Allowance. However, to continue to receive payments, you must have already be getting them prior to adopting the child.
What if the child has a surviving parent?
You may still receive Guardian’s Allowance if the child has a surviving parent. In this case, only one of certain conditions must apply. In fact:
- Because of a court order, the living parent is in a hospital;
- From the date on which the other parent died, the living parent will be held in prison for a minimum of 2 years;
- Both of the parents were not married: additionally, the father must be unknown and the mother deceased;
- Both the parents were either divorced or their civil partnership was dissolved: additionally, the parent that is currently alive must not be taking care of the child. Furthermore, they must not have custody, and no court order must indicate that they do;
- The location of the surviving parent is unknown to you.
How to claim Guardian’s Allowance
In order to claim Guardian’s Allowance, you must fill out a form. Additionally, although your claim can be backdated, it is advised to apply as soon as the child starts living in your household. Furthermore, if you do not already get Child Benefit, you should also apply for it as soon as you can. The steps to apply for Guardian’s Allowance are as follows:
- Download and fill out the BG1 application form (you may find it on the Gov.UK website);
- Send the completed form to the Guardian’s Allowance Unit of the HM Revenue and Customs. Additionally, you will also need to send the parents’ death certificate(s) and the full birth certificate of the child. Note that you must send originals, and not copies of these documents.
You may send your claim to the following address:
HM Revenue and Customs – Guardian’s Allowance Unit
Child Benefit Office
PO Box 1
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE88 1AA
United Kingdom
Disclaimer
Your claim can be backdated up to 3 months back. What this means is that you may be able to receive payments for up to 3 months before you claimed. However, you must have been eligible for this period.
If you disagree with the decision that was taken for your claim, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration. Indeed, this means that your claim will be looked over again.
What if my situation changes?
If your situation changes, your eligibility for this benefit may change. Furthermore, you could stop receiving payments. However, failure to report changes could incur penalties. As such, make sure that you report changes as soon as you can.
You may report changes of situation online, by post, or by phone. Online, this can be done on the Gov.UK website. By post, you may contact the Guardian’s Allowance Unit at the address in the paragraph above. By phone, you may contact them by telephone on 0300 322 9080, or textphone on 0300 200 3103.
If one of the following happens to you, you may report changes online:
- The surviving parent sends money to go towards taking care of the child;
- The prison sentence or hospital stay of the surviving parent is either shortened or finished;
- You find out the location of the surviving parent;
- Your contact or bank information changes;
- The child you care for stops their approved training or full-time education;
- You move abroad: this can be either temporary (for an amount of time superior to 8 weeks) or permanent (for an amount of time superior to a year);
- The child you take care of begins living with another person.
What is Child Benefit?
In order to receive Guardian’s Allowance, you need to qualify for Child Benefit. In fact, if you do not already receive this benefit, you must apply as soon as you claim Guardian’s Allowance.
Child Benefit can be claimed as soon as the child comes to live with you. Then, you may apply for this benefit as soon as the child whose parents died comes to live in your household. Otherwise, you may also claim this benefit for any child you are responsible for, as soon as they are born.
Like Guardian’s Allowance, your Child Benefit claim can be backdated for up to 3 months back. As such, you can backdate both of these benefits for the same amount of time.
How much is Child Benefit?
Child Benefit has 2 different rates that you may be able to earn. In fact, there is a fixed rate for your first or only child. Then, there is a second rate for any additional children. They are as follows:
| Child Benefit rates in 2022 | |
|---|---|
| Who payments will be received for | Weekly rate |
| Either the older or only child | £21.15 |
| Additional children | £14 (this amount is per additional individual children) |
Note that these two rates can be earned in addition to one another. Indeed, let’s say that your first child is your own, and you take care of an additional child whose parents died. Then, you will earn £21.15 weekly through Child Benefit for the first child. Then, you will be able to get £18.55 weekly through Guardian’s Allowance for the second. In total, you would receive £39.70 weekly.
How can I claim Child Benefit?
As said before, you can claim Child Benefit as soon as your child is born or comes to live with you. Then, if you are claiming for the first time, you can do so with form CH2. Then, the address you should send it to is indicated on the form itself.
Important
You may add a child to a claim that already exists. If this is the case, you may then call the Child Benefit helpline on 0300 200 3100. You will need your own National Insurance number, and the birth certificate of the child.
You also need to report any changes in your situation. For example, this may include you getting married or divorced. Additionally, it can be for if your child stops attending their training or education.
Lastly, you may choose to either cease or restart your payments at a later date. For example, this may be the case if either your partner or yourself receive more than £50,000 yearly.
