Child Tax Credit for 19yr old in education - can he also work part-time

monstrevelu

Hi,
My eldest son is 19yrs old and lives with my fiancees mum. She is his nominated guardian and claims child benefit i.e £20 per week) and child tax credit as she is on income support. My son is continuing college education. My question is...can my son work part-time (e.g. Saturday, holiday jobs) and my future mother-in-law still retain the full amount of child tax credit? For the purposes of this post, I will assume (very likely) that my son would not earn enough to start paying tax. Many thanks

wannabedebtfree_2

His earnings are his own so would not effect your MILs claim for CTC, HMRC don't ask about the child's earnings in a claim for CTC. Just make sure he doesn't do too many hours so that it doesn't affect his studies. Short term financial gain is pretty pointless if it were to adversely affect his long term prospects (in my opinion).

monstrevelu

Hi wannabedebtfree,
Thanks for the clarification. He will only be at college 3 days a week (considered full-time!) and therefore working on a Saturday or during the holidays would not impede his studies. Basically this is for a bit of extra pocket-money, not serious income. Also a job would look good on his CV and get him out of the house (i.e. away from PC/ computer games !!!) so would be a win-win. I just wanted to ensure the entitlements the MIL currently receives would not be affected. Thanks again....