Can anyone enlighten me about how child tax credit is calculated for a new parent if their partner left the household before the baby was born? The initial claim would be calculated on the previous years income, but would the partners income also be included? and what happens if the claimant requests to use the current years income, which would include a period when the partner was there? This could leave new lone parents in considerable hardship and with no access to the Sure start maternity grant.

The claimant would make a single claim, not a joint claim, therefore partner's income from last year or current year is irrelevant to claim. TCO are only interested in household circumstances from the date of the claim, therefore if the date of the claim is the birth of the baby and the claimant is at that time single, then no mention of ex-partner is made. The TC600 claim form asks for last year's income for the claimant only, but once the award is up and running the claimant can phone the helpline to have income adjusted to an estimated figure for this year due to current circumstances.