UK source package: HMRC Child Benefit statistics, annual release August 2025 (families claiming and in payment, children, HICBC opt-outs, by number of children)

[juaristi22]

Facts request from the microcosm side (microcosm#840 assessment; microcosm#736).

Why

Two consumers need the HMRC Child Benefit administrative counts, and chronicle has no Child Benefit package (only hmrc/tax_free_childcare_march_2026):

1. Take-up parameters. microcosm's take_up_contract.json sets the Child Benefit claim rate at 0.89 from the August 2022 release and the HICBC opt-out rate at 0.23 derived from a 2019 figure — both pre-date the 6 April 2024 threshold change (£50k → £60k, taper halved). Publisher facts should replace both literals.
2. Families-with-children anchor. DWP grosses the FRS "benefit units with children" control from HMRC Child Benefit data (FRS methodology, grossing regime). The candidate's engine-computed child benefit runs +22% over the OBR line while FRS-reported receipt at the same weights sits within 2% of it — an admin count of families and children in payment is the fact that arbitrates.

What

Child Benefit statistics: annual release, data at August 2025 (gov.uk, accredited official statistics), UK, reference date 31 August 2025 — the headline record set:

fact	value
families claiming	7.55m
families in receipt of payment	6.87m
children in claiming families	12.73m
children in payment families	11.73m
families opted out of payment (HICBC)	685,000
children in opted-out families	1.0m
families in payment by number of children	1: 3.4m; 2: 2.5m; 3: 725k; 4+: 262k

plus the same measures for August 2024 (the release's comparison year) and, if the release tables carry it, the country/region split. Earlier annual releases (2022–2024) would let the take-up series carry vintages.

Shape

New hmrc.child_benefit_* source concepts (families claiming, families in payment, children claiming/in payment, opt-outs; number-of-children dimension on the in-payment families), family/benefit-unit entity, annual period typed to the August reference date, K02000001, assertion: observation, provenance to the release tables.

Consumer

microcosm take_up_contract.json (child benefit claim and opt-out entries) and a Child Benefit families/children validation surface next to obr.child_benefit.

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