To have spent 12 years of child benefit?

[FullMoomin]

Having a panic attack.
I've just calculated that over the past 12 years of spending child benefit every month I've spent over £20,000!!!!!
I should have saved this money for DC!
If I had saved it, I could give it to them.
Turns out all my friends have been quietly saving theirs and now have a nice big monet pot to give their DC when they turn 18!
Now I feel horrifically guilty that my DC wo t get that, when all their friends will.
Oh help, really panicking.
I will never, ever be in the financial situation to pay £16,000 back to them.
The money goes in to my account each month and first it got spent on nappies, food, supplementing my reduced income, then when they went to school it got used for school uniform, new shoes, clubs, food, etc.
Suddenly 12 years has crept up on me and I haven't saved a penny of it.
Only 4 years of CHB to go now and then it stops!! I feel like I've seriously failed my DC.

The thresholds are pretty low tbh so i don't think saving it is the norm.

Those who can afford to save their CB each month, clearly do not need it and should be forced to return it!
It’s intended to support families living costs as obviously mothers tend to lose a large part/all of their income when kids are young and childcare fees are so high. You have done the right thing!

But surely 20 yrs ago the payments were not the same? or were they?

@pinksheetss is it means tested in Scotland?

Add £87 + £65 together

That's for 2 dc though & what were the payment amounts 10 years ago?

The way CB provision is calculated is wrong and unfair. Households bringing in nearly 100k don’t need it.

I think it should be universal as it was in the past & as it is in many countries.

Stop panicking.
Firstly you used it as you are meant to. If these people can save it they did not need it and shouldn't have had it.
Also giving 20 k to someone at 18 means it often gets waisted.
I know loads of people given huge amounts at that age who waisted it.
I don't get child benefit at all . So am rather horrified that those that do don't need it and can save it like that. What an absolute waist of tax payers money.

Well - aren’t your friends lucky that they could look at CB and think “we don’t need that”. It’s not intended for the child’s savings. That’s the child trust fund (not that it ever really took off). You used it for what it was meant for!

I'm in Ireland so we get 140 cb a month and when I was young parents definitely saved it but among my friends now nobody does. It goes on essentials , I use mine to pay for private ot twice a month for my son. He needs the ot now and there's a 2 year waiting list publicly. Spending it benefits him far more in the long run than saving it

As a tax payer who does not get CB, I’m actually frustrated that CB is not being used for it’s purpose and is being saved. CB is there to benefit a child’s life whilst they are a child, not to supply a lump sum to an adult.

look at it another way OP

Would you have rather skimped on nappies, refused school trips, had the heating on less etc. etc..

it's not meant for saving you've done the right things with it

*@ Zanatdy
*
One thing every parent should be aware of is that student loans are now means tested so your child will only be able to borrow the full amount needed to live off if you’re on low income. Joint income over around 60k and they get the minimum with parents expected to substitute the rest (6k a year roughly). So if they’ve got 18k for their child they should expect to spend it on that if their child chooses to go to Uni.

Is this right? Has there been a change in the maintenance loan calculation? It's been the case with tuition fees but has is it now being applied to maintenance loans too!

Actually scrap that post above. I've got them the wrong way around

You spent it because you needed it. Would you rather your child have not had food or uniforms and gone without so you could feel better about yourself when comparing yourself to others?

Your son will have to be like 99% of the population who don't get a lump sum handed to them upon reaching adulthood. He is in good company.

@duchiebun no it's not means tested, only restriction is if someone in households earns over 50k you can either not take it or you get it but you get taxed more because of it

Agree it should either be universal or if it’s means tested then fairly done.

I always thought child benefit was for the parent to help raise the children. Only wealthy people could afford to put it away which is perhaps why the cap was put in place.

Mine has been spent on all the things they have needed through the years. Clothes, food, Christmas, shoes, school trips etc. Having had a relatively poor childhood they are now working very hard to make sure they have a better quality of life and my adult children are already out earning me.

Personally I don't think it is a very good idea to hand a big lump sum of money to your average 18-year-old. You would probably do your children more harm than good with that.

You can still invest we found a stocks and shares isa did better than an interest one we never religiously put in the CHB as we did not qualify for it every year but invested the Gov money and birthdays and Christmas.

Having over 6k stops you from claiming free prescriptions and dentist as a student over 19 too so we are mindful of that and keep an investment in our name for him when he graduates.

Some have the means to save for their kids future and some can't, it's as simple as that. The source of the savings is immaterial. Just be reassured OP that if you HAD given your DC lump sums at 18 they would've wasted it anyway unless you'd presented it to them as some kind of investment account.

Rather than beating yourself up about it why not open savings accounts for them now? Use this as a wake-up call to teach your DC of the importance of saving for the future (especially if either plan to go to university!).

How would it even be 20K? How cleverly has that money be invested to reach this amount of money? Especially for a second child which you're getting a lower amount of money for?

@LordEmsworth I cannot stand bitter self righteous opinions like yours. What someone chooses to save or not is quite frankly none of your business. If someone chooses to save £20 odd pound a week good for them!

If it’s any consolation my DC don’t even get CB. We aren’t rich, but DH earns slightly over the threshold. So my DC have nothing.

You couldn't afford to save it, just like I can't. All your doing is proving it shouldn't have been an automatic benefit

All your doing is proving it shouldn't have been an automatic benefit

It hasn't been for years though