do you claim your child benefit even if you don't 'need' it?

[elportodelgato]

Just interested. We don't really need CB, it doesn't get spent on everyday essentials, it goes into a nice savings account for DD for when she's older. I personally think CB should be means tested and therefore not made available to people (like me) who don't need it. But while it's available to everyone, it's legitimate free money so why not? Does anyone disagree?

Gosh, I live off it, I'm literally waiting till the day it goes in so I can go food shopping!

Well, it's not really 'free' money is it? It comes from somewhere, and presumably our taxes if we work, so if you look at it like that even if we don't all need it, we're just earning back a bit of what we pay in taxes anyway.

yes I claim it despite not needing it and despit thinking it should be means-tested. however, i do make regular monthly donations to charity (direct debit) which are almost as much as the benefit.

despit? despite!

Not sure about the word claim,
I don't think you can actually not apply for it, I think with ds I got a threaten letter about leaving it too late, I maybe wrong though

You may not feel you need it now but your circumstances may change - another child, one of you deciding to become a sahp, redundancy.

And frankly if you are working and living within your means, saving for a rainy day, you get no brownie points for that when it comes to claiming benefits if your circumstances change...

Whilst probably not needing it per se , it funds some of the dc activities. We pay a fair bit in taxes and ni but are otherwise eligible for few state funded benefits to show for it.

Thanks for these responses. I work fulltime as does DH so we both pay tax etc, neither of us have been out of work since leaving university (15 years ago) so we have definitely made our contributions over the years. I will be on my second round of maternity leave soon when CB will def come in much more useful for day to day stuff like grocery shopping etc. And we do also give quite a bit to charity each month so I expect I can continue to feel virtuous while claiming it

I get it but could cope easily without it When the DTs were born and I was on mat leave it made a huge difference.

In the intervening 6 years DH and I have both advanced career wise so we are much better off so don't really need it.

I put most of it into a savings scheme for the DCs. I haven't claimed tax credits for a couple of years but suspect we wouldn't get anything anyway.

I don't agree it should be means tested though. Well I do in principle but in practice the cost of administering it would far outweigh any savings to be made from people like me.

Also: I didn't think you 'claimed' it as such, doesn't everyone get it?

I don't feel bad about child benefit even though we are lucky enough to be able to put it straight into a savings account for DS. We get no tax credits or anything and - seeing how much tax DH and I pay a month - I am not going to feel bad about a measly £80.

Don't forget that it serves a purpose other than monetry gain. It preserves NI contributions towards your pension if you don't work, and you can only claim Tax Credits for a child you claim CB for.

I claimed for DS1 and DS2 ( and you do have to claim - it is not assumed or automatic)
I have never claimed for DD because we don't need the money.And didn't apply for DS1 when he passed 16 even though he is in full time ed and entitled until he is 18

I always contemplate CB when people are posting lecturing posts about benfit cheats.

Ona similar note are there any who would not claim the one person Council Tax discount if they were the only adult living in the property.

I am confident that George Osbourne is on the case here and CB will shortly be means tested. Novice mama, do you work in the Tory PR department?

Currently pregnant and assuming things work out I will be aiming although we don't need it. My view is if is a universal benefit then I am just as entitled to claim as anyone else. We pay a huge amount in tax between the two of us and I see it as getting a very small proportion of that back.

I do claim it for both the dc however I was entitled to dla for 3.5 years when ds 2 was seriously ill but it felt a bit wrong to claim while I was a sahm through choice. In retrospect I should have claimed for it just so we could have had a blue badge for parking, the money could have been donated to the appropriate charity also.

Interestingly, in Belgium, it is known as "allocation familale" - not a hint of "benefit" about it. It is a bonus that you get if you have children. I have never heard of anyone feeling bad about it. I am sure if i asked my work colleagues whether you SHOULD claim it, they would think me quite mad!

Also, last month I got an extra 6o euros. Found out that this is paid each September to Primary age children to help with back to school costs. It was a bit of a drop in the ocean on the real expense, but what a great idea!

Agree with others that your NI stamp gets paid, so you are considered to be "working" (ironic grimace) even when on ML/SAHM for pension purposes. You should claim it for that reason alone. Means testing maybe a good idea in these stretched times, but would probably cost more to administrate....

Why not claim it and give it to charity if you really don't need it or think you should have it. But saving it up for university is a good idea.

It goes into the DCs CTF accounts. It's the only 'benefit' we receive. I do think it's valuable because it acknowledges that as a family we are putting something into society - ie we are raising the next generation of workers.

For the first time in our entire life we are claiming benefits. And if feels great!

In fact, on top of the £80 CB, we are even managing to claim tax credits of £80 a month, even thought we have a joint income of approx £55k a month. Crazy... I still voted tories even though I knew that they would abolish this as of next tax year, but I'm enjoying it while I can.

As a side note, I must add that one of the reasons we've been eligable for this monthly payout is due to pure chance that a) DS was born the week after the new tax year so DW had earnt nothing this year, and b) DS was born just before the Tories came into power.

Enjoy any benefits that you can, because essentially it's a tax break - we pay plenty enough into the system as it is, and as of April 2011 you'll likely no longer be entitled to it.

...and I've just set up a child tax fund with a regular monthly payement ( which is tax free, so aside frpm charity, there are many things you can do with the money if you feel uneasy receiving it.

We claim and donate it to children's charities.

We claim so I get HRP as I can't commit to a work contract due to an intermittnet but severe health problem. I'd like to work adn pay tax/NI but can't - but can't claim DLA either.

So it protects my pension.

I just don't "get" why people don't claim it. Pagwatch - why not claim it and give it to a charity you feel is deserving. Or give it to a friend that you know is really struggling and who could really do with the extra money, do you have poor friends? Or save it for a rainy day.

I'm slightly ashamed to say it just goes in my bank account once a month and get used up with regular money, I forget we even get it. I think I will set up an account for dd and have it paid directly into that. She can have it for uni fees, a car or similar when she's 18.

2010 dad, I had that one year when I claimed tax credits, one year I eanrt hardly anything and the year after I was back on full wage but they based the tax credits on the previous year's earnings so for 1 year I got LOADS. One you are really on 55k for a whole year though you'll get zilch. I think it's over 45 k and you're not entitled to anything.