Martin Lewis says 'we got the win' as major change to Child Benefits announced

Martin Lewis is celebrating this afternoon following the Chancellor's Spring Budget.

Jeremy Hunt delivered a new string of economic policies today (March 6), one of which included major reforms to the Child Benefits system. He confirmed that from April 2026, the high-income child benefit charge threshold will increase from £50,000 to £60,000.

Previously, high-earning parents were left in an unfair position where if one parent earned more than the threshold, they would receive less child benefit while a joint income of up to £90,000 would see no such punishment. Speaking to the Commons, Mr Hunt explained two new reforms that would be delivered instantly as well as changes planned in 2026.

Read more: 10 key announcements made in Spring Budget 2024 and how they will impact you

He told the Commons: "Today I set out plans to end that unfairness. Doing so requires significant reform to the tax system including allowing HMRC to collect household-level information. We will therefore consult on moving the high-income child benefit charge to a household-based system to be introduced by April 2026. But because that is not a quick fix, I make two changes today to make the current system fairer.”

He explained: “I confirm that from this April the high-income child benefit charge threshold will be raised from £50,000 to £60,000. We will raise the top of the taper at which it is withdrawn to £80,000. That means no one earning under £60,000 will pay the charge, taking 170,000 families out of paying it altogether. And because of the higher taper and threshold, nearly half a million families with children will save an average of around £1,300 next year.”

Martin has previously campaigned in favour of reforming the child benefit system.