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?

Spend it.
I'm not keen on eithet child getting a lot of money when they turn 18 incase they waste it all.
Will pay for driving lessons etxlx when they need it

I've not had child benefit since my youngest turned 17 or 18, I can't remember, he was in higher education, but CB went in to a general savings account in my name and I didnt touch it for years. I paid a big chunk of the mortgage off with it.
The boys didn't do without- DS1 ex girlfriend used to say to DS! 'Mr been everywhere, done everything, had everything' so it's clear they didn't miss out.

Looking back, clearly it wasn't what CB was for but at the time it was a universal benefit so I didn't think too much about it.

Goes into the household pot and get swallowed. I don't see the point of trying to allocate 'Pots' and we cant afford to save it.

Don't get the horror at saving it.

Really what is the difference between spending it on your children and then saving some of your own wage for them? I have savings accounts for my children, CB is paid into the whole pot which pays for everything my child needs and then I also choose to save some of my leftover funds in my child's savings account. Is that saving the CB or is it saving some of my wage?

Are you only allowed to save for your child if you don't claim CB in your mind? Or should only people who cannot save anything at all every month be allowed to claim it? Must we be down to our last pound before we are allowed to claim it in your opinion?

If I want to put my money in my child's savings account I will do considering CB merges in with the rest of my money who's to say whether I'm saving that or saving my own hard earned wages, it's feck all to do with anyone either way.

Exactly this!

Are all the people who don’t have the money to save supposed to fess up and give up their child benefit as soon as they get a little bit of spare cash for savings then? Because you should use ALL of your own money before you dare take any off the government?

I don't get it as mine are adults now, but when I did I used to save it then each year I would spend it on new uniforms, including footwear, winter coats and school stuff ready for the new term in September.
It was so long ago that it wasn't means tested and was given to everyone. It used to be paid by a book that was cashed at the post office. You could only save it for three months at a time, if memory serves, so I'd have to cash it then put it away.

You do realise that the money does not need saving in a child's own name in an account that the child automatically gets right? I mean sure - such accounts exist (Junior ISA) - but people can and do simply save it earmarked for their kid in a savings account of their own, that people themselves control. If some folk want to open junior ISAs sure - and we have small ones too - but the vast majority of our savings (For us and for the DC) - have got nothing to do with those accounts!

Those who are horrified at saving - ignoring all the practicalities of this - lets see where the slippery slope ends hey -

1. You mustn't give child benefit to those who can have savings! (So lets say you figure out who these people are and chuck them out) ....then ...
2. But X is using the CB for funding violin lessons ! It's not fair - violin isnt essential - so then we develop a commonly agreed list of essential spends (ha ha - nobody agreed on this at the height of lockdown) - and we chuck out those who have violin lessons or anything similar... but then...
3. Y is using the child benefit to fund holidays abroad for the kids... so we then identify and chuck out Y and her like... but then
4. Z is using the child benefit for weekly treats at the family pub -when A cant break even... so we chuck out after figuring out how to classify and identify needs (at this point, and long before this working out all this has broken the govt bank..)...but then...
5. B is using the child benefit to buy free range and organic avocados when the rest of their shop is own brand... but C cant manage to break even.....

My point with this ridiculous list is that if people pay careful attention to this - it will immediatey become apparent that it is is neither OK nor possible to police what people are doing with their CB. It isn't OK to police this. The govt has decided it is a means dependent benefit and offer it (and TFC) to people at a certain threshold. And so it is.

Exactly. It's a 'I can't do that so neither should you' argument. Where on earth is it supposed to end?

What difference does it make to any poster here if I save CB or spend it on karate lessons, put it toward a holiday, private tutor, treats and so on...

When they were little-little, it just went into the family account, and paid for the general living expenses.

Now we try and put a third into savings for them to use in the future, and the rest is spent on living.

£10pm goes into savings account for her.

Rest goes into an account which is then used to cover her clubs, clothes etc.

Had a few years where had child tax credits which could fortunately save so led to a bit of a buffer. Now don't get child tax credits but have had to reduce amount I save for her each month.

Buttery, our household pot is divided into pots 😁.
Having each separate pot was the only way we could work out how to afford anything.

I'm a pot person too!

Have food pot, petrol pot, bills pot, xmas pot, holiday pot, annual bills pot, extra wages pot.

It pays for shoes, activities, blackmail, clothes, haircuts, drugs and general bills.

How do the pots work? Genuine question btw. Do you have a separate account for each thing?

It just goes into regular spending. I suppose I could pretend I'm earmarking it for some of their clubs or something but it's just in the current account.

Starling has ‘spaces ’ you set up and name then yourself and shuffle your money around. It’s all the same account, but still divided. You can ask that bills come from a specific space, and if there’s not enough it will be declined. Just like another account.m, but you set them up. It’s quite clever, but I haven’t enough money to really work with the atm. It all just comes in and vanishes out again!