The High Income Child Benefit Charge, and what it actually takes back.
Between £60,000 and £80,000 of adjusted net income the charge claws back Child Benefit in fixed steps, for every whole £200 earned above the lower figure. It falls on whichever partner has the higher adjusted net income, whoever the money is paid to — and the National Insurance credits belong to whoever claims.
How this chart works
The middle scale is graduated in income after the contribution. With a fixed sacrifice, the next £1 of salary raises adjusted net income, National-Insurance-able pay and student loan earnings by the same £1, so one scale answers for every salary-and-sacrifice pair and it can read the combined rate. A straight line between two points crosses at their midpoint, so the middle scale is drawn at half the spacing of the outer two. The identity holds for a fixed-amount sacrifice; a percentage is converted before it is drawn.Your figures
Everything below is yours to set. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent anywhere — the arithmetic runs in this browser tab.
| Income tax | 40% |
|---|---|
| Personal allowance withdrawal | 0% |
| National Insurance | 2% |
| Student loan | 0% |
| Child Benefit charge | 0% |
| Combined | 42% |
Figures are calculated from the assumptions you entered and are illustrative only. They are not a forecast and not a personal recommendation.
| Adjusted net income | £72,000 |
|---|---|
| Personal allowance | £12,570 |
| Net income | £52,317 |
into your account each month — £52,317 a year
| Contractual pay | £6,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Income tax | −£1,352.67 |
| National Insurance | −£287.55 |
| Into your account | £4,359.78 |
| Deducted altogether | −£1,640.22 |
A twelfth of the year, which is what to budget against. A real payslip will differ: income tax is worked out cumulatively across the year, and National Insurance is charged on each pay period on its own — so a month containing a bonus is not a twelfth of anything.
The whole curve
Where the rate goes across the range, and where these figures sit on it.
Thresholds in play
Facts about where these figures sit relative to the thresholds in the rules.
What children cost you at these figures
Child Benefit slopes away. Childcare support falls off a cliff. Drawn on one scale.
The government adds £2 for every £8 you pay in, up to £2,000 a child a year — twice that for a disabled child. It is a cliff: one pound of adjusted net income over £100,000, for either parent, and it stops for the whole household.
30 hours a week over 38 weeks for children from 9 months to 4. Also a cliff, at the same £100,000, and also per parent. What they are worth depends on what your nursery charges, which is why the page asks rather than assuming a national rate.
Clawed back through the tax system between £60,000 and £80,000 —1% for every whole £200 over. A taper, not a cliff, and it falls on whichever parent has the higher adjusted net income. A claim with payments opted out keeps the National Insurance credits and the child’s National Insurance number; the charge is then nil.
All three are measured on adjusted net income, and pension salary sacrifice reduces it pound for pound, which is why the cliff and the clawback move left on the chart as the sacrifice handle moves.
Compare scenarios
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The full breakdown
Where the year’s gross pay goes, then every figure in it itemised.
- Take-homeafter everything below£52,31772.7%
- Income tax£16,23222.5%
- National Insuranceyour share; the employer pays more£3,4514.8%
| Gross salary | £72,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Total income for tax | £72,000.00 |
| Adjusted net incomeWhat the allowance taper, the child benefit charge and the childcare cliff all run on. | £72,000.00 |
| Personal allowance | £12,570.00 |
| Taxable income | £59,430.00 |
| Band | Rate | Income | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| basic | 20% | £37,700.00 | £7,540.00 |
| higher | 40% | £21,730.00 | £8,692.00 |
| Income tax | £16,232.00 | ||
| Band | Rate | Earnings | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| employee main | 8% | £37,700.00 | £3,016.00 |
| employee upper | 2% | £21,730.00 | £434.60 |
| employer secondary | 15% | £67,000.00 | £10,050.00 |
| Employee National Insurance | £3,450.60 | ||
| Employer National Insurance | £10,050.00 | ||
| Income tax | £16,232.00 |
|---|---|
| Employee National Insurance | £3,450.60 |
| Net income | £52,317.40 |
| Effective rate on total income | 27.34% |
| Marginal rate on the next £1 | 42% |
Where these figures come from
Computed by @nomogram/tax-engine against the 2026/27 parameter set, which is in force. Parameters last checked against gov.uk on 29 August 2026.
| Personal allowance | £12,570 |
|---|---|
| Withdrawn from | £100,000 |
| National Insurance primary threshold | £12,570 |
| Upper earnings limit | £50,270 |
| Annual allowance | £60,000 |
| Childcare cliff | £100,000 |
Sources: income tax rates and allowances, National Insurance thresholds, pension allowances.
How the rules work
General information about the rules for the default tax year. It is not about the figures above and not about anybody in particular.
The withdrawal band
The personal allowance is £12,570. Above £100,000 of adjusted net income it falls by £1 for every £2, and by £125,140 there is none left. Over that band every extra £1 of income makes £1.50 taxable, so the higher rate applies to one and a half pounds rather than one.
For a salary of £110,000 in 2026/27 in England, that works out at 40% of income tax plus 20% from the withdrawal plus 2% of National Insurance: 62% on the next pound. With a Plan 2 student loan it is 71%. A Scottish taxpayer on the same salary faces 69.5%, because the Scottish rate the withdrawal multiplies is a different one.
Three ways into a pension, and what each one moves
All three reduce adjusted net income by the gross contribution, so all three restore personal allowance at the same rate. They differ in everything else.
| Method | Adjusted net income | National Insurance | Student loan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary sacrifice | Reduced | Reduced, employee and employer | Reduced |
| Relief at source | Reduced | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Net pay | Reduced | Unchanged | Unchanged |
Sacrificed pay is never received, which is why it leaves the National Insurance and student loan bases as well as the income tax one. The other two are paid out of pay that has already counted for both.
The cliff edges
The High Income Child Benefit Charge starts at £60,000 of adjusted net income and claws back 1% of Child Benefit for every £200 above it, reaching the whole award at £80,000. It is assessed on the individual with the higher adjusted net income, not on household income.
Tax-Free Childcare and the funded hours are different in kind. Both require adjusted net income of £100,000 or less, for each parent. One pound over that figure, for either parent, removes both schemes for both parents and every child — £2,000 per child of Tax-Free Childcare, and 30 funded hours a week for 38 weeks. At exactly £100,000 the entitlement survives. There is no taper and therefore no marginal rate: the step is the whole entitlement.
Scotland
Scottish rates apply to non-savings, non-dividend income only. Savings income, dividend income, National Insurance, capital gains and the personal allowance itself are reserved and follow UK-wide rules. That is why a Scottish taxpayer inside the withdrawal band sees a different combined figure: the allowance being withdrawn is the same one, but the rate it is being withdrawn against is not.
Questions
What is the 60% tax trap?
It is the effect of the personal allowance being withdrawn. Above a threshold of adjusted net income, the allowance falls by £1 for every £2 earned. That makes £1.50 of every extra £1 taxable, so income taxed at the higher rate is charged at one and a half times that rate over the band.
Why is the rate higher than 60%?
National Insurance is charged on top, at the rate that applies above the upper earnings limit. A student loan adds its own percentage. The combined figure is what actually comes out of the next pound.
What is adjusted net income?
Total income less reliefs, less gross relief-at-source pension contributions, less gross Gift Aid donations. It is the measure the personal allowance withdrawal, the High Income Child Benefit Charge and the childcare cliff all run on. It is not the same as salary, and it is not the same as taxable income.
What does salary sacrifice change?
Sacrificed pay is never received, so it is not in adjusted net income, not in taxable pay, and not in earnings for National Insurance or student loan purposes. Relief-at-source and net-pay pension contributions reduce adjusted net income too, but leave National Insurance and student loan repayments alone.
What is the childcare cliff?
Tax-Free Childcare and the funded hours both require adjusted net income at or below a threshold, for each parent. One pound over, for either parent, removes both schemes for both parents and all children. It is a discontinuity rather than a taper, so it has no marginal rate.
Is Child Benefit worth claiming when it is all clawed back?
A full clawback makes the award and the charge cancel out in money terms. Claiming still does two things the charge does not touch: the claimant receives National Insurance credits that count towards the State Pension for years spent caring rather than earning, and the child is issued a National Insurance number automatically before turning 16. A claim can also be made with payments opted out, which keeps both effects with no charge to repay.
Is this financial advice?
No. Nomogram is an information and calculation tool. It computes what a set of figures produces under the rules for a tax year. It is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and it does not make personal recommendations.
The same engine, other questions
All of these run the same calculation on the same published figures. They differ in what they open on and what they explain.
- Scottish income tax — Marginal rate for a Scottish taxpayer across all six bands, including where the higher rate meets the National Insurance upper earnings limit.
- The childcare cliff — What Tax-Free Childcare and the funded hours are worth at your own nursery rate, and what crossing £100,000 of adjusted net income removes.
- Adjusted net income — Work out adjusted net income from salary, pension contributions, benefits in kind and Gift Aid — the measure the personal allowance taper, the childcare cliff and the Child Benefit charge all use.
- Salary sacrifice — What a pension salary sacrifice costs after income tax and National Insurance, entered either as a fixed amount or as a percentage of salary.
- The general marginal rate calculator — Every rule at once, for any salary.