This chapter looks at benefits and tax credits for children at residential school. It covers:

1. Child benefit and guardian’s allowance (below)

2. Means-tested benefits (below)

3. Non-means-tested benefits (►)

4. Tax credits (►)

5. Other help (►)

This chapter explains what happens to benefits and tax credits if your child lives away from home in a residential school because s/he has a disability and the cost is met by public funds. It explains whether or not benefits and tax credits are paid while your child is away from home and what happens when s/he comes home for a temporary period – eg, at the weekends or holidays.

In this chapter, we use the term ‘away at school’ for when your child is staying at a residential school because of her/his disability.