Child Benefit Cheques Get a Boost as Monday Payment Brings Annual Increase

Families across Canada who rely on the Canada Child Benefit will notice a slightly fatter deposit when this month’s payment lands on Monday, as the federal government rolls out its yearly inflation-linked increase to the program.

The CCB, a monthly tax-free payment designed to help parents cover the costs of raising kids under 18, is adjusted each year to keep pace with the cost of living. This year’s bump comes in at two per cent, the government has confirmed.

According to a release issued by the Canada Revenue Agency on Friday, families can now expect to receive as much as $8,157 annually for every child under six, and up to $6,883 for children between six and 17. Those figures translate to increases of roughly $160 per younger child and $135 per older child compared to what families received last year.

The CCB’s yearly adjustment is tied to inflation, which the Bank of Canada tries to keep hovering between one and three per cent through its monetary policy decisions. Recent numbers show inflation sitting a little above that comfort zone the Consumer Price Index for May came in at 3.2 per cent, a jump largely blamed on rising gas prices. Strip out the volatile stuff, though, and core inflation looks closer to the two per cent mark the central bank is aiming for.

That two per cent figure is essentially what’s driving the size of this year’s CCB top-up.

Like several other federal support programs, including the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, how much a household receives through the CCB comes down largely to income. The CRA uses a family’s adjusted net income from the previous tax year to determine the payment amount, meaning the rates now in effect for payments running from July 2026 through June 2027 are calculated using 2025 tax filings.

Families earning under $38,237 a year sit in the best position: they qualify for the full benefit amount with no reduction at all. For those households, that works out to: $8,157 per year ($679.75 a month) for each child under six, $6,883 per year ($573.58 a month) for each child aged six through 17

Once a household’s income climbs above that $38,237 threshold, the benefit starts to shrink. The CRA applies a reduction often referred to as a “clawback” that scales up the more a family earns above the cutoff, with the exact reduction also depending on how many children are in the household.

For many families, Monday’s payment will look only marginally different from last month’s. But for those tracking the year-over-year change, it’s a modest, welcome adjustment at a time when everyday costs especially at the pump continue to eat into household budgets.