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Original poster

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

113 replies

elportodelgato · 03/09/2010 16:39

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?

OP posts:
Bigmouthstrikesagain · 04/09/2010 15:09

Because Tiptree - implying claiming CB when you don't desperately Need it makes you less virtuos than someone who decides not to claim because they don't 'need' it (though what amount you 'need' is dependent on the society you live in and the standard of living expected there) iyswim.

Though you will argue that you are not implying any such thing, I am just reacting to the impression I have been given by some posts not necessarily yours even, on this thread.

Bigmouthstrikesagain · 04/09/2010 15:13

Pagwatch tis a free country and you have a right to be offended - I am sorry my post is offensive to you.

tiptree · 04/09/2010 15:15

I just said I didn't understand, I set that in the context that there was a time when I was desperate for the money - which may explain why I feel differently than others. As I said I don't go around asking people what they do with their child benefit although I assumed that most people did not claim it - especially if they were well of when their children we born. I only started to claim mine when I becamse a single parent. But again I am a great procrastinator. I would never fill in a form for something I did not really need. I certainly would never have claimed in the days when I had to queue up.

I am sure most people who can afford to make a regular donation to a charity, you could argue that I am less virtuous than most because a proportion of my donation is not even my money!

pagwatch · 04/09/2010 15:18

I am not offended.

I think infering that anyone who doesn't claim is doing it as a grand gesture or is attempting to be holier than thou is offensive.
But you have explained thatthat is not want you meant.

So as you are not suggesting either of those things about my not claiming - it is a non issue.
Unless I was one of the people you were refering to? But then that wouldn't make sense.

tiptree · 04/09/2010 15:23

Maybe attitudes are related to having been on benefits yourself or growing up in a family where no one worked. I ended up on benefits for a few years and hated that feeling of being reliant on the state. To me all benefits carry that feeling. I had to pull myself back together to get off IS and over time have tried to support myself as fully as I can. I probably do have a chip on my shoulder about being financially independent as I have claimed more than my fair share in the past.

DH grew up in a family where noone worked even though they could, he has the same desire for independence that I do.

Quattrocento · 04/09/2010 15:29

I claim it and I don't need it. Stick it into the DCs university funds.

This thread has made me really think tbh. We are both taxpayers, and we don't personally get an awful lot out of the welfare state (DCs in private schools, private healthcare, dental etc) and never have claimed any benefits. So I agree with whoever suggested that it makes all people feel as though they are part of the welfare state and we do have a feeling of getting something back.

Quattrocento · 04/09/2010 15:30

Also, means testing is massively expensive to administer

ssd · 04/09/2010 15:42

I applaud the posters who give to it charity, good for you.

hmc · 04/09/2010 17:13

theyoungvisitor has it absolutely right...

hmc · 04/09/2010 17:17

And Beenbeta has it right too...

I've always embraced that idea since it was first suggested by the Lib Dems some years ago. Would eradicate the 'poverty trap' disincentive in one fell swoop

traceybath · 04/09/2010 17:17

Same as Quattro.

As I said to in-laws - I'll happily relinquish child benefit when the winter fuel allowance is also means tested.

MrsJohnDeere · 04/09/2010 17:28

Into university funds here too.

theyoungvisiter · 04/09/2010 19:36

I give to charity - I GAYE directly out of my pay packet, and I make one off donations and sponsor friends.

I have no idea whether what I give outweighs my child benefit. Quite possibly it does - I really have no idea.

But the key this is, they are two separate issues - your entitlements from the state and what you give to charity are completely separate and I find it strangely arbitrary to link them.

Of course you should give to charity if you are comfortable and others are needy - but why the need to link this in your head to child benefit?

tiptree · 04/09/2010 19:57

They are linked in my case as if I did not claim the money I could not donate it. We have always given a proportion of our income away. We discussed a few years ago that we felt uneasy claiming a benefit we gid not need when we knew the money could be used in a better way. We discussed not claiming it and for the reasons above donated it to a charity.

hmc · 04/09/2010 20:00

"But the key this is, they are two separate issues - your entitlements from the state and what you give to charity are completely separate and I find it strangely arbitrary to link them."

Exactly! - we have given a good deal more to charity this year than a 12 month allocation of child benefit

hmc · 04/09/2010 20:01

Although I see you have explained that link in your case Tiptree

theyoungvisiter · 04/09/2010 20:04

But tiptree when they reduced VAT did you immediately donate an extra 2.5% of your shopping bill to charity?

No - it's not related.

Perhaps you felt a little more comfortable and donated a little extra overall, but you didn't feel the need to link the two in your head - did you?

So why expect other folks to make a similar arbitrary link with child benefit? It's a separate issue. People should donate what they can regardless of whether they have children or claim benefit or anything.

tiptree · 04/09/2010 21:00

I have never said I expected people to do anything, I am surprised that my actions are seen as sinister or odd. We give a percentage of our income away, so the more we earn the more we give.

I think there is a difference between a VAT decrease that you may not notice if you do not make a big purchase and receiving £70 in your account every month.

Quattrocento · 04/09/2010 21:06

Agree with it not making sense particularly to link what we give to various charities and what we receive in child benefit.

theyoungvisiter · 04/09/2010 21:10

Tiptree - you did say that you were "genuinely shocked" at people who claimed the benefit and put it into savings.

I don't think your actions are odd or sinister at all - they are your perfect right and I'm delighted you do it.

But saying that you are "shocked" that others don't do the same is a little unfair IMO. The implication is that you expect others to follow your example and either give the benefit up or give it away, and that you find people who do save it somehow morally wanting.

I was making the point that claiming the benefit and saving it has nothing to do with morality. It's just about how you regard child benefit and is a completely separate issue to how much you give to charity.

MmeBlueberry · 04/09/2010 21:13

Of course I claim it. I am not stupid. It just goes into our general current account and is not ringfenced in any way.

I just see it as a tax credit - the only one I get. I save the government so much money by opting out of state education, I think £250 (or whatever the amount) a month is a fraction of this savings.

scottishmummy · 04/09/2010 22:11

entitled to it so claim it.not going to knock back free money

tiptree · 04/09/2010 22:22

I am shocked, I did genuinely think others did the same. I am no saint and like the odd nice thing but it never occured to me to keep the money. I do mix in quite leftie affluent Christian circles, that has clearly affected my outlook on the world. Maybe we are even odder than I thought .

scottishmummy · 04/09/2010 22:26

of course i keep it.all goes in the pot.

theyoungvisiter · 04/09/2010 22:34

But can't you see that that judgement is really strange and arbitrary?

Why shouldn't people keep child benefit any more than they keep their salary or a tax rebate or any other financial entitlement? It's got nothing to do with whether you NEED it or not - it's money the government considers they are entitled to.

Many (probably most) of the people who are saving it are ALSO giving to charity - it's just they don't make an arbitrary imagined link between what they donate and the money they save. It's just semantics whether you call the money you donate "child benefit" or "gin fund" or don't give it any particular name at all.

I get child benefit. I work. I save. I buy food. I give to charity. But I don't feel the need to make an imaginary link between one part of my income going into one pot and other part of my income going to another.

You can do what you like of course - if it helps you to decide that x goes to y then feel free. But do you really need to feel shocked that other people manage their finances differently?