Adult DC and board money?

[newtothisriver]

I just want to start off by saying I'm not interested in hearing how people wouldn't dream of charging their adult DC to live at home. I'm purely interested in how much those who do pay, pay. Don't mean to be rude but it makes the reading of replies much easier for me.

Next year DS turns 18, he will be living at home and either going to uni or HNC at college, so either way he will get student funding. He also has a part time job.

ATM he is still in school and I get tax credits, out income is low because DH is disabled and can no longer work.

If life was different I wouldn't charge DS a penny, but the truth is the tax credits will drop massively, his sibling is 2 years behind in school so potentially a couple of years down the line I will have 2 adult DC at home and no tax credits/ child benefit.

Right, so those are my reasons. I will need to charge the DC's something to live at home, but I don't know what's a fair amount?

I can't really do the percentage of income thing as income will be variable so I would prefer a set amount.

I was thinking £25 a week, but tbh I don't know if I can afford to support another adult in the house for £25.

I don't want my DC to feel that I am taking too much, but I don't want to be on the breadline that we are already so close to.

What do low income families take from their DC?

The student loan amount varies depending if they are living at home or away. Have you looked at how much he could get if he chose to live away OP? (He may not want to, it's just that you said it is out of reach because of the cost of it)

The student loan amount varies depending if they are living at home or away

It's the same.

I think it may be worth making a call just to check that you and your DH are receiving all the benefits you're entitled to

We are pinkyyy

I have had welfare rights go through everything a year ago, but because I work and my earnings are not terrible we only qualify for the tax credits.

The funny thing is although we are low income we are not low enough to get all the other benefits. We are low I come because the only one of time that there is, is currently supporting a family of 5, with only tax credits and child benefit to help.

If I wanted to maximise benefits I could simply take a drop in income and become the person that some apparently think I am.

Thanks for the advice though.

*the only one of me

Don't let the posters who obviously have some sort of weird agenda get to you. I'm not sure why you're getting such a hard time for asking a question thays asked on here frequently

Thanks. I'm a bit baffled too tbh. I suppose some people just like to jump to conclusions so they can stick the knife in.

How much will the loss of tax credits and child benefit be?

If you deal with the certain facts and not the variables, how much will his student loan be? (Assume no bursary and no PT job earnings)

I would then calculate all his known expenses and see what the actual amount is left over for him to be able to contribute to the household expenses.

He/You can see how much he needs to work/earn to fund any basics/extras/social life.

If your child was going into halls of residence they would be paying a lot more! I think the important thing is to try and aim for your son to end up with a similar amount of spending money at the end. I would sit him down and explain that you will be looking for a contribution but that the exact amount will be agreed once you know how much his grant is. You could forewarn him that it is likely to be in the region of £50.

I had to pay £200 each calendar month

Trouble is all the sums people are suggesting are arbitrary given that we have no idea how much it costs OP to run her household.

We (husband and I) currently share a house with my mother in law for various reasons (landlord sold our rental house, husband was made redundant, trying to rent with pets etc.) She went through everything and worked out that to run the house, on average, costs around £1200 per month on basic rent, council tax and approximate utilities. We split this equally 3 ways and then we buy our own food and stuff - we all chip in for consumables (if one of us is going shopping we'll pick up bits for general use, bread, milk, washing powder, toilet roll etc.) as well as gas and electric (pre-pay meter).

Obviously this wouldn't work so simply for OP as her son isn't working full time like the 3 of us are, but it would give a starting point on monthly outgoings, and also give her son an awareness of how much it actually costs to run a household, rather than just plucking a figure out of the air with little to quantify where this has come from.

How much will the loss of tax credits and child benefit be?

I don't really know, £13.70 would be the CB loss but I don't know the tax credit figures as they are completely random, illogical and I have 2 other under 18's so it would not be a full loss. I'm absolutely not looking for my DS to make this amount up for me.

If you deal with the certain facts and not the variables, how much will his student loan be? (Assume no bursary and no PT job earnings)

It's £5750, I did mention it would give him just over £100 a week, annually not over term time. So not bad, but plenty to factor in in terms of outgoings.

I would then calculate all his known expenses and see what the actual amount is left over for him to be able to contribute to the household expenses.

I only really know how much his travel would be. Text books and equipment he may need will not be known for months but I expect they will be a significant amount.

He/You can see how much he needs to work/earn to fund any basics/extras/social life.

He is a worker and will take as many shifts as he can feasibly manage around his studies.

I'm not expecting him to prop me up. I did say I would live more frugally over having to ask him to give me more, but I think between £25 and £50 is a fair amount.

I wish I didn't have to do it at all

If your child was going into halls of residence they would be paying a lot more!

That's why he is remaining local and not moving away. Completely unaffordable.

Trouble is all the sums people are suggesting are arbitrary given that we have no idea how much it costs OP to run her household.

I suppose. I'm not asking for a percentage of the house running costs though, just a contribution generally.

Once dds had graduated, were employed (and had paid off their overdrafts!) we charged them roughly half of what they'd have had to,pay for a flatshare. At the time - quite a while ago! - it was about £60 a week.

Once they had eventually moved out, they soon found out what a roof over your head/food/heating/endless hot water actually cost.

TBH we didn't actually need the money, but having supported them heavily through uni we thought it was time they at least partly paid their way. We didn't save it for them as such, but in later years we did help them fairly substantially with house deposits.

TBH we didn't actually need the money, but having supported them heavily through uni we thought it was time they at least partly paid their way. We didn't save it for them as such, but in later years we did help them fairly substantially with house deposits.

Sadly I can't do this.

Op for comparison I live a student lifestyle in Aberdeen my flat share (which is incredibly cheap) is £300 per month, I spend at least £50 per month on food.

If he were to live out your DS would be paying at least £350 a month probably more. I don’t think asking for £200 a month is at all unreasonable. To be honest living at home is far nicer and far more comfortable than a flat share, I’d probably pay more to live at home.

Hi op.

I have an 18 year old and when they finish education and can't work because they are disabled I will have to ask/ use some of their benefits.

I haven't been able to work because of their needs and it's made me pretty much unemployable.

So I totally understand where you are coming from

@flossietoot your comments on this thread show your ignorance about the lack of support there is for carers and disabled people. It also shows a complete lack of empathy on your part too.

I charge mine £200 each. I buy food but if they want something extra they buy it. It’s much cheaper than a room in a shared house around here which would be about £400 with no food.