to think that all child benefit should be scrapped from the age of 5

[Ithinkitsjustme]

I think that instead of recieving child benefit, all school age children should be entitled to free school uniforms (including one pair of shoes and trainers and a coat), breakfast and cooked lunch and all school trips (which some years would be more expensive than others), there could also be a new benefit set up for those on a low income. At the moment, many schools charge over the odds for school uniform, trips are unaffordable for the majority of families and suitable school shoes are very expensive, if these were supplied by the schools, the cost would be far lower and would thus save money across the board. Those who wished would be able to send their child with packed lunches.

My ds is in high school and no way is his uniform as much as that! Where on earth do your dc go to school?

His sweatshirt is 13 pounds and his tie 3 quid each! 8 pounds for a school tie!

I don't agree with scrapping child benefit, I rely on mine to feed the teenager

YABU, its the parents not the state who should provide clothes and food for the child.

If school trips and essentials are outside the parenta budget then thats for the parents to work out not expect it to be handed to them.

But HappyMummy that's exactly what CB is meant to cover.
The state has already decided to fund children.

All the OP's proposed system does is ensure it is in fact spent on the child.

YABU.

It doesn't exactly fit the platitude of 'spending on the child': it's state spending on certain services. It ensures it is spent on eg uniform (which may or may not be needed by a particular family in the first place), or on trips (would they all now have to be of equal price/duration/frequency so funding was fair?), or on food (already provided free in addition to CB to those on low income).

It would be more costly to administer (as the existing CB system would have to continue for under 5s and for the NI credits), and it would put quite a big additional administrative burden on schools.

Yabu, I can't see how it would work. Ds1 started last school year with all new uniform and shoes. One term later he had another full set of new uniform as he'd grown, and then in the last term yet another new set of uniform including shoes again a he'd had another growth spurt, would I have to apply to the school everytime he grew? Our would it be one set per year, leaving him in too small clothes and shoes as there is no way I could afford ti replace them without my cb!

What we should do is scrap all top-up benefits completely and ensure that wages are adequate to cover reasonable living expenses for a reasonably sized family. That would save administrative costs, remove the difficulties faced by the working poor and remove the need for others to moan about people's sense of entitlement.