To ask what you do with child benefit

[Gemma273]

Basically this.. so I've always since my DC has been born split it in half, half into savings account for DC, half into our account to cover clothes, shoes, activities etc for DC. This discussion recently came up at a toddler group I go to and everyone said they put it into savings and now I feel guilty that I split it.

So what do you do?

If your kids have a child trust fund, their reference number is their NI number.

I saved it all for university. I acknowledge I was lucky to be able to

Use all of it towards expenses for kids and bills, I would imagine most people do?

Only have one DC so top up to £100 and save it for him. We have a spending pot for his day to day expenses £200 a month, excess from this goes towards birthday/Christmas etc but our financial positions

Are clearly different, so it's like comparing apples and oranges

Usually kids clothes, or bills

A bit boring but we just put it towards a pension for her. She has a savings account for birthdays etc separately.

We do exactly the same as this.

I know. Not everyone has a CTF though

yet upthread you said "I cannot afford to save for my children"

Do you "we" cannot afford? You must have very high outgoings if you can't afford to put a bit by for your children.

If your husband earns over £80k and you earn over the CB threshold and you reckon you can’t afford to save for your kids then that’s a you problem not a system problem.

When my dd was 13 I started to save it for her as she desperately wanted to go to uni (she's in her 2nd year there now) and has full access to the money saved.
Unfortunately I can't see me being able to do the same for ds as it just gets eaten up by bill's etc at the moment. There are still 8 years to go until he reaches 13 but with the way prices of everything are rising I very much doubt that there will be any left to put in a savings account for him on a regular basis. I do put any birthday/Christmas money he receives into an account for him to access when he's 18. Plus I occasionally top it up with a tenner here and there (just means doing without something else that month)
But, as others have pointed out it was never intended to be saved, it is for the here and now to help with immediate costs.No need to feel guilty

Just goes into our joint account and gets used on household expenses (which indirectly then goes on food, clothes etc for DC). We are fortunate that we can afford to save and I envisage being able to support our child when they are a young adult but I don't view child benefit as being something I should put into a savings account for our child. I don't think that's what it's for.

Top answer!

Now, it just goes into the pot and pays for food and bills. When I had more money, it went into a separate account that I used when I bought something of medium expense specifically for DD - shoes, winter coats, zoo season pass, toddler bed, a bike or swing set. I vaguely recall that I was putting it aside for Christmas, birthdays and holidays. I did save for her as well, then though. I can’t just at the moment.

in reality it all comes in and then goes out. The idea of specific money being get ringfenced for specific purposes is a bit hypothetical.

Bills mainly. Can’t afford to save it.

🤣🤣. Thanks for brightening up my morning.

Goes straight back to the household bills etc but I would say it covers school dinners.

The ‘you shouldn’t be getting it if you can save it’ argument is utterly ridiculous.

Food shopping. Kids need to eat.

Straight into the family pot. Whatever they need is obviously spent out of wages throughout the month and this just tops up the account.

I don’t think anyone should feel guilty but if that is something you are worrying about then you should think about it logically.

If you are saving it, you don’t really need it. So the savers should be the ones who feel guilty and the ones who need it for the household pot shouldn’t.

Same as pp. it goes into my account and gets spent on food shopping/household bills etc.

I now have two kids so I want to try and save £100 a month even though I know I won’t be able too

If you are saving it, you don’t really need it.

Honestly such a concerning attitude to have towards money.

Only up to a point. Everyone should have some savings beyond their everyday budget for random stuff that’s necessary but not predictable or weekly, so yes people with savings should get it. Even UC allows some savings to be maintained.

If you can afford to shunt it into an ISA and forget about it, then give your DC twenty odd grand in their 18th/19th birthday, maybe not. And as always, it’s where you draw the line.

It's meant to help with what they need not for savings for their future.

Just goes to show that many people claiming benefits don't actually NEED it and the money could be given to those that are actually struggling to feed their children.