To use my child benefit..

[ridingshotgun]

To pay towards food shopping?

A mix up with a tax bill has left me skint this month and I've just had a lecture from my mum that it should be going into a saving account for my child

Wtf. Does your mum think your child doesn’t eat? Obviously you use child benefit however you want for the benefit of the household.

Tell your mum to piss off!

Child benefit is to help you, the parent, provide any and all things your child needs. It is NOT a saving scheme!

Pretty sure they would rather eat than have savings, of course you can use it.

I cant afford to save my cb I use it every time its paid.

Your mum's being silly. CB is there to help with the cost of bringing up a child. If you need food it's perfectly fine to miss out on saving up for a while. TBH I never thought of saving mine, I use it for uniforms and weekly lunches. But then again we are a low income family.

Sorry? She is dictating what you do with your money???

Isn’t that what Child Benefit is for - every day expenses? Think your Mum might be a bit disconnected from reality.

If you have no other way to pay for food then of course. Maybe you could pay it back at a later date. I put all my child benefit into an account which I use to get things for my DD it has mounted up a little as I mainly still use my money to buy her things.

When my mother got the benefit it was called “family “allowance” and was designed to help families cope better when children came along - in those days (1950s) you didn’t get it for the first child. So your mother is being unreasonable - it has a different name but its purpose is the same

You get child benefit to help towards the expenses of having a child. Children eat food therefore it is perfectly acceptable to buy food with this money. Your mother should keep her beak out of your business.

It's. It supposed to be to save up for your child. You are supposed to use it towards bringing them up. In fact, it's more immoral to save it if anything!

I've never saved mine, kids cost a fortune so towards food/lunch money/school bus/uniforms/anything else it may be needed for, I only know 1 (high income)family that save there's

I used to use mine for pay for ds's shoes, or to tide me over when things got a bit tight. It's what it's there for.

Child benefit is to go towards whatever you need it to. It’s not meant for savings, unless you want it to be.

Our child benefit goes into our bank account along with all other income, and gets spent on whatever we need that month - bills, food, clothes, savings, pocket money, whatever! If things were very tight, I’d always put food above savings, your family needs to eat! Ignore your mum.

What is it for if not to pay for food for your child? What does she imagine your child eats fresh air and brambles from hedgerows?

Quite frankly, there's a lot (not all) of older people who have no idea how much pressure housing costs, low wages and insecure employment puts on the budget of many working age people. My mother loftily aired the view that I should have a year's salary saved up for emergencies. Oh right and how will I do that, I queried, given that unlike you I don't have inflation proofed state pension, a generous final salary pension and no housing costs.

I've never saved mine...it goes into the pot with all my other money.

I have read on forums about saving the CB and giving it back to dcbut i knew nobody in the real world that did this when my dc were growing up it went into the pot and if it was spent in the supermarket then meh, your mother clearly has no idea what need is.

So she would rather her grandchildren went hungry? I’ve never saved mine, it goes in with my other income and gets spent as Day to day needs require it.

I normally try to save it where we can and use it in "emergencies". Like if he needs new shoes, or a new coat etc. I'm not saving for anything fancy haha.

I just felt a little taken aback when she told me I shouldn't be using it. I think she thinks because me and husband are eating that food, it's not been used correctly!!!

I'm just in a shit position as I'm £200+ down this month!

Child benefit is help pay for the day to day upbringing of your child, it is not to fund a savings account.

YANBU, mine has always been used as part of my monthly spending.

It is not a kids savings benefit (there are versions of those), it is to contribute to the everyday costs of providing for children.

Saving it, especially if you can't otherwise cover the costs of feeding, housing, clothing and supporting your children would be ridiculous and wrong.

@stingray there is nothing to "pay back" - it's not intended as a savings scheme.

We can't afford for me to save it. It's meant for what the child needs now, not in years to come.
Child benefit, to benefit the child, who will benefit from eating, not having savings in the future.

Your Mum's being ridiculous. Child benefit just goes into the pot here. If I was loaded then I'd save it, but if you need it to feed the kids, then that's what it's there for!

Benefit more from at this time I mean