Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to allow the families of young apprentices to continue to access (a) child benefit, (b) child tax credits and (c) child support allowance for at least the first year of their apprenticeship.

Both Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit are payable for children until 31 August following their 16th birthday without any education or training conditions. Thereafter, payment is conditional upon the young person either:

• being in full-time, non-advanced education – which is education up to A-level or equivalent, or
• undertaking a course of approved training that is not provided under a contract of employment.

This means that for young people undertaking a paid apprenticeship, where they are normally paid a wage, neither Child Benefit nor Child Tax Credit are payable in respect of them.

Where a young person moves into a waged apprenticeship, this progression marks the point at which they begin to become independent from their parents or guardians and the Government’s view is that payments for the young person as a dependent should cease from this point.