What do you spend child benefit money on?

[fateisdestined2025]

Do you save it or spend it?

No, they must have to run along beside it. They don't go on the motorway much.

If you have much left over you could buy scratch cards. If you win = more booze and fag money. Bonus.😁

My daughter has it transferred to her for college lunches in term time and for days out with friends in school hols

Family money, but the kids get pocket money, phones, clubs, clothes, gifts etc so I don't feel like I'm robbing them 🙄

It goes into general pot, but I save just over this amount per month for my child so you could say it all goes into savings for him

You do realise it isn't means tested? (Yes I know about the HICBC). Working parents can claim CB.

But surely unless she's depriving her DC to pay for the car, it's not an issue.

She will spend far more than her CB on feeding, clothing, housing, transporting, entertaining etc her DC as it's just money coming into the household that is then used as the parent sees fit.

If she's decided to get the CB paid/transferred into a savings account and leave it untouched until she has the money to buy car and then uses it for that purpose, while paying her DC costs from her other money, then I don't see what's wrong with that, or different to her using the CB as part of her grocery money or for school lunches, or whatever, then saving from her wages to buy a car.

Can you say why you're 'gobsmacked'?

although I do understand why…I just wish she bought her kids nicer things, let them do clubs, nicer clothes and maybe asked her husband for money…she bought the car with the child benefit…her husband now claims he bought it with his money…I wish she had bought it with the household income and that child benefit had gone towards things or activities for the kids…but I totally understand the husband maybe financially abusive.. it’s their home and their choices…

@fateisdestined2025 child benefit is household income though for most people.
It just gets added to the pot.
If they need a car, they need a car !
Unless it was a secondhand banger it must have taken months to save up if it was literally just the CB.
I would assume more likely everything the need in life comes out the pot and any that's left goes into savings.
They were saving for a car, they got a car.
Maybe they're saving for a trip to Disney next.

School dinners, days out, clothes, childcare. It just goes in the pot but I definitely spend more on each child than I get in child benefit each month

It's hard to say but we get about £104 every 4 weeks and save £150 per calendar month for DS, so it's much of a muchness over the year

Are you just being goady? A household will have a certain amount of income from different sources, and spend that money on a range of things. It makes no sense to say she's spent the child benefit on the car, rather than other things she's bought, particularly as she will have been getting it since thwy were born, so it's not like she's applied for another benefit and spent the additional money on a car.

I use it for child related expenses each month, sports club, school trips etc. Anything left over is usually then used for a treat for her.

It hasn’t always been like this, it used to be part of the pot. Now we have more spare and are able to fully budget & save etc, we can use it separately.

Ours goes into our short term savings pot so things lile birthdays, Christmas and holidays but not day to day spending

Clubs and Christmas and birthdays. I’d love to be able to save it all but I need it

When they were little it went on school uniform, school trips and extra curriculum stuff.
from high school age is was given as pocket money .

Of course it’s means tested. That’s literally what the HICBC is.

I’ve never received a penny of child benefit for that very reason. It’s the same as funded childcare hours and tax free childcare albeit at different thresholds.

We used to spend it on childcare (3 kids close in age so a lot of cross over of fees and mat leave to juggle). Now it goes into an isa for them. Its about the equivalent to what we spend on clubs though - so arguably it goes on that. It all just initially goes into out wages account - so it's more in my head that it would be for something specific. In reality it's similar to me saying i spend Mondays proportion of my wage on food. It's just all pooled together as part of our income.

(Really don't see the issue in saving up to buy a car - would take an age and a huge benefit to drive if you have kids)

It all goes into the pot. No idea what it actually ends up being spent on.

I give them £50 each as pocket money, save £25 each into their savings and then usually get them a post football Costa with the leftovers or put it towards some form of new clothing one of them wants. I don’t think I’m averse to it going in the general pot though if people need it to, children are expensive and the money is there to help.

Why can’t the husband buy the kids nicer clothes, clubs etc? Why is it all her responsibility?

I assume if she’s bought the car with (mostly?!) saved child benefit, it’s not exactly the latest model Tesla is it?

No, there's a cap but that's not the same as it being means tested. Two parents working full time can claim it - you can't say the same about benefits like UC.

Child tax credit vs child benefit:

While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, Child Tax Credit is a form of income-related support paid by HMRC to families with children who receive Working Tax Credit or who previously claimed the benefit. Child Benefit is a separate payment.

Of course it’s the same as being means tested. If you earn over a certain amount you don’t receive it. That is literally the definition of means testing.

It’s not a cap. You receive nothing.