Was child benefit money spent on you?

[fateisdestined2025]

For me I don’t think it was. My parents honestly speaking just provided the extreme basics and spent the money on themselves. Mum would have the nicest clothing and I’d have rubbish to wear. I
remember never having lunch or break at school and would wait to go home and eat. I wouldn’t really have breakfast either. Mums relatives would get the nicest gifts from her. Stuff I never had. It was horrible.

I don’t think mine was either. Grew up with my dad and distinctly remember he always had money for his cigarettes and trips to the pub, plenty of money for him to go on dates too. Meanwhile I had shoes with holes in, clothes that were falling to bits, etc. I think the system needs some kind of overhaul, like a prepaid card that can only be spent on food and nappies

Child benefit, barely covers food, let alone school uniform, clothes and school trips, and that's before you get to 'luxuries' like extra curricular activities, toys and holidays.

£26 p/w is a tiny fraction of what a child costs to raise.

I think you are looking at this the wrong way.

However, your parents may have distributed their funds unfairly through the family.

It was universal when I was a dc and I had it saved for me as parents didn't need it.

You were neglected OP. No lunch, no decent clothes, no breakfast? Appalling. I hope you don’t bother keeping in contact with your scummy parents now.

It just went into the pot as we were brassic, but in fairness we were all treated equally and we had cheap shit clothes but so did our parents lol

I don't think child benefit was ever mentioned as a separate income in my family, and also with my dc, it just put into the general household funds.

Its there to help you with your children, and could have paid for mortgage/rent food etc

We spend it as part of the family pot.

but we spend £300 a month on wraparound care alone, so not feeling guilty.

our child is properly fed, clothed, taken on lots of trips and activities, has a playroom full of toys and gets £5 a week pocket money

We spend it as part of the family pot.

but we spend £300 a month on wraparound care alone, so not feeling guilty.

our child is properly fed, clothed, taken on lots of trips and activities, has a playroom full of toys and gets £5 a week pocket money

We were poor. It was pooled into the family income pot and probably spent on food. None of us had “nice” things.

I wondered why you had two threads running on this. I’m a single income household so it all goes into the same pot.

Oh i'm sorry 🥺

My child benefit was spent on food for the family (three kids)

We were living in poverty, despite my dm being married to my step dad and him being the provider

He didn't want to be a provider so whinged about it every damn day. Where his money went, I dont know, I had no clothes

My dm would've been better off facing the stigma and being a single mum.

Now i'm a mum, dd's money goes on rent, bills, and dd

I did buy myself some besta drawers from ikea, which were pricey, this month, but everything is for her

Its a few quid a week, so there's no way even the neglectful parenting you describe here didn't take all the CB and more OP.

But CB is so little that a parent spending it on raising a child doesnt really tell us anything. You were mistreated regardless. It isn't about the child benefit.

My mother saved hers to buy clothes and school shoes for us.

When I got to my teens my mum gave me it.I had to make it last the month with no extras.

Don't be daft, it was just extra money to help cover the mortgage, bills and any other essentials needed by the family.

If you were neglected in other ways, focus on processing that, not how the CB was spent.

The CB was spent on food and everyday expenses. So yes it was spent on the children.

Cb doesn't come close to covering the costs for my dd, it barely even covers the cost of transport to and from school add in extra curricular activities and it's a tiny fraction. With or without cb I'd be paying those so would you class that as spending it on my dd?

Child benefit just goes in the family pot here too (and it was the same growing up).
I'm sorry you had such a horrible time in your childhood.

Fags. Mine was used to buy fags. Straight out the postoffice and into shop with the cash.

but I also appreciate family money is pooled really. So my clothes, portion of food, housing and heating would have come out the main pot.

30 years ago when mine were babies, the amount was just about enough to cover a pack of nappies and a tin of formula milk every week, obviously when DC are older you don't need those, but it's still not a lot. I think when they were into their teens it was about £80 every 4 weeks so £10/week each. Soon spent even then.

Lol child benefit is 104 a month for one child you’re acting like your mom got thousands each month and starved you.