What do you spend child benefit on?

[Nonymousnurse]

I’m a nurse, two DC, married and husband is a middle income earner. We qualify for child benefit but do not receive any other public funds.

I’ve been saving the child benefit, never spent a single pence of it, with the idea of passing it to my DC when they are older. I told MIL this and she looked at me like I’m mad, said she always used it for courses, partie, etc. But I reckon I can get by on our wages so have put the CB in a savings pot. I realise I’m fortunate to be able to do this.

Just wondering if others save or spend their CB.

@ZeroFucksGivenToday @Nonymousnurse unfortunately I'm pretty sure the rules changed and if your third was born after 2017 sometime then you would not receive any additional child benefit.
My third and forth were born in 2018 and 2019

Sorry @Nonymousnurse I was supposed to tag @Needmorelego in the above post

Life. It just goes into the joint account with everything else. I do save money for the small one but it’s not specifically the CB money.

For child tax credits yes. But there was a whole thread in here this week. Child benefit isn't the same. I believe you can claim for all children. Worth looking into.

Just been on gov.uk

direct copy "How it works

You get Child Benefit if you’re responsible for bringing up a child who is:

under 16
under 20 if they stay in approved education or training
Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child.

There’s no limit to how many children you can claim for."

you can claim CB for four children.

@ZeroFucksGivenToday thanks for checking.

You made me look too and it also say this

Overview
If you’re already getting benefits for more than 2 children you’ll continue to get those benefits.
You won’t be paid an additional amount for more than 2 children, unless the children were born before 6 April 2017 (on or before 6 April for Income Support) or special circumstances apply.

Unless that means the first two children born before 2017, rather than the third and subsequent 🤷🏽‍♀️ How confusing. Maybe I'll apply anyway - I guess they can only say no.

Thanks

So you separate the bread, butter, fillings, crisps, fruit etc that go in their lunchboxes from the rest of the general groceries. So you can specifically pay with CB? 😂

It goes in the family pot like everything else ,we can't afford to separate it out for children,s savings 🙄

@Gwen82 should have said school dinners as in hot lunches per day provided by school not packed lunches.

That's about universal credit and the old child tax credits. There's no limit on child benefit.

It only backdated 3 months though so I'm afraid you've missed an awful lot if you meet the other eligibility criteria

It just goes into the general pot. I'm surprised that those qualifying for it can set it aside with the cost of living crisis.

It just goes in the general pot. It comes into my personal account (rather than the joint account) so I use it for snacks, days out, stuff the kids need etc. in the sense that I often pay for those things with my personal card (joint account mostly used for mortgage, bills etc). We do put some money aside each month for DCs but it’s variable as having a comfortable lifestyle for DCs seems more important than saving at present and we’re fairly stretched (like everyone!) currently.

I guess I could say I spend mine on winter heating and cat food 😆

Well exactly!

That is universal credit rather child benefit.

I've always factored it into our total monthly income. I've just got a new job which will wipe out our entitlement, so when calculating my new income and what the overall increase was I deducted the £145, but in terms of ongoing budgeting have just removed the CB column on my spreadsheet!

We don't get it anymore but it just went in the pot.

We get DLA and it's the same. Notionally I guess it pays for DS clothes or swimming lessons.

@alotoftutus

You're wrong.

That's universal credit and tax credits.

Child benefit can be claimed for as many children as you have.

I have four kids, last one born in 2019 and I get CB for her. My neighbour has 6 kids, last one was born a month ago. She gets CB for them all.

Ours is means tested so we only get about €80 pm for 2 DC, hardly worth talking about. We put it in the joint account so it probably goes on electric, mortgage, water etc. We do put €1000 per year in their savings for the big things they'll need at some point, driving lessons, uni, deposit and DC1 is getting a few €s per month pocket money.

With all due respect, you don't know what kind of sacrifices other people have to make in order to be able to set it aside. For us it's time with our children. Until recently we both worked full time in order to be able to afford for me to take extended maternity leave and buy a suitable house in a safe area for our growing family. Now that we're a bit more financially secure we've dropped our hours to 80% to have more time with them but are belts are tightened as far as they can go. No brand name anything, snapping up bargains on Vinted and Marketplace. I see friends with lower incomes who can't even compromise on branded washing powder, breakfast cereal, soft drinks. We drink water and eat porridge for breakfast. 40c vs €6 for the equivalent Cornflakes is a huge price difference. You see it as subsidizing my DCs savings but you could also be subsidizing someone's Rice Crispies or Persil Non Bio.

The savings we're building for the DC we see as absolutely necessary, we won't be able to afford the costs of driving lessons and uni otherwise. We also teach DC1 about money and saving so they will be able to make informed choices and will be less likely to cost the taxpayer in the future, not to mention the fact that the taxpayer are getting far more out of us than we are getting from the state through Child Benefit. Other people just hand them a fiver a week and that's the end of it.

We believe in the social safety net and that those who need more help should get it but I don't believe I have the expertise to know at what threshold the benefits should be stopped or
if it should be stopped for people who buy Philadelphia but not for those who buy Tesco Value cream cheese.

We save it, we did even when they were little and money was tight. Now they are older there is enough to buy them a first car each and insure it for a year.

Why should tax payers give MC children savings?! The point of CB is to pay for the costs of raising a child, food, clothes, shoes etc. I really feel that if you can afford to save it, you shouldn't claim it. 2 young DCs here btw.

I don't save it, it gets spent one way or another. I do save more than it's value for the DC though.

Parents who are struggling are in receipt of other payments which I don't qualify for to try and offset that, Child Benefit is not the only allowance there is. I'm not trying to have a say into what others spend their money on, nor should I. Should you?

The argument that it shouldn't be used for savings could equally be used for hobbies, fancier childcare, holidays, brand name clothes, a house with a spare bedroom, saving for a house deposit (for the family home, not when they are older), games consoles...

Bills!!! Anyone who can afford to save it should not be claiming it, or else donate to people who actually need it.