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Original poster

child benefit - what do you spend yours on?

272 replies

PersephoneSnape · 17/03/2008 12:17

I apend mine on (part of) the weekly food shopping for me and 3 dcs, ds2s ballet lesson and dds pocket money. does anyone tuck it away in an account or spend it on wine and handbags?

OP posts:
mumfor1standfinaltime · 17/03/2008 16:14

Yes everyone gets child benefit regardless of income, don't know why the government don't just cut out the middle man and just tax my husband less each month!

ComeOVeneer · 17/03/2008 16:15

Does the government dictate how that money shoould be spent? I am choosing to save it for my children to attend university/deposit on a flat etc to benefit them as they start out in life. I'm not buying designer clothes or getting botox with it, but will when the time comes be speding it on my children, what the hell is wrong with that?

Nbg · 17/03/2008 16:15

Ours gets paid into a savings account and we let it build up.
We use it to pay for the car insurance at the begining of the year in one lump sum.

Really we need it to live on but its useful having it to pay the insurance otherwise we couldnt pay that.

Ambi · 17/03/2008 16:18

FAQ, I totally agree.

Mercy · 17/03/2008 16:18

Peachy, I get the CB (and CTC) paid into my own bank account and pay for mine and the dc things out of that. If the amount builds up a bit then I pay for the food shopping or anything else really.

Otherwise my account would have been dormant for years!

VanillaPumpkin · 17/03/2008 16:18

Because not everyone has a husband......

mumfor1standfinaltime · 17/03/2008 16:18

Makes you wonder though if someone who earns 150k would bother applying for it. Depends how many kids they have I suppose. I always forget I only have one so get £18.10 a week, have no idea how much you get for more children.

Ambi · 17/03/2008 16:19

COV, someone who understands where I'm coming from.

sagacious · 17/03/2008 16:20

Absolutely nothing ComeOVeneer

I'd love to say I saved it, but it goes towards nursery fees/new shoes and the 101 other deadly dull expenses.

Coca · 17/03/2008 16:22

If business picks up and we stop using it to pay for food etc I know that I won't be turning it away, if I'm honest I would love to be able to use it for the dds' savings and if we ever get to that point I will.

uberalice · 17/03/2008 16:22

I daresay means testing is expensive. Better to give it to the people than work out costly ways of not giving it out.

VanillaPumpkin · 17/03/2008 16:24

Even if someone earns 150k if there is a SAH parent in the equation they apply for it to get the HRP because if they lose all that money in a stock market crach they will not get a state pension etc....if there will even be one when we are grey and old.....

AtheneNoctua · 17/03/2008 16:36

Yeah, that's right. Let's take that miniscule little bit of child tax credit that hard working people get and give it to people who don't work -- or work very little.

Good grief, how many time can you beat a dead horse?

I think it should be effort tested. You know give to people who are trying to make ends meat. Say families who have a combined working week of say at least 50 hours?

In fact I think all benefits should be based on whether or not you are trying rather than what you do or have.

ComeOVeneer · 17/03/2008 16:39

Ele is that you?

Coca · 17/03/2008 16:40

Ah yes because everything is always so black and white....struggling on benefits = scrounger

AtheneNoctua · 17/03/2008 16:41

ja

soapbox · 17/03/2008 16:42

It won't be means tested because they have already worked out that the administration costs of doing the means testing would cost more than the savings they would make, unless the level of payment was set very, very low indeed.

AtheneNoctua · 17/03/2008 16:44

You are putting words in my mouth. There are people who struggle on benefits and eventually manage to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. And then there are people who make a life of working the system. Not all people on benefits are scroungers. But, some of them are.

Likewise, not all wealthy people are are hardworking. But those who are should not be punished for it.

Mercy · 17/03/2008 16:49

I'm confused - who shouldn't be punished (hardworking people?) and for what, and how?

Coca · 17/03/2008 16:50

I don't think it should be means tested either and that wasn't what I was saying. Life isn't a bed of roses for anyone so maybe we should spend less time worrying about what everyone else has and just get on with it. That's not aimed at you AN I didn't mean to have a go.

AtheneNoctua · 17/03/2008 16:55

Perhaps I was a tad defensive, but seems everytime I voice my opinion that more money should be taken from the people who earn it and give to those don't want to work (not to be confused with those who are genuinely unable), then I am accused of calling everyone on benefits a scrounger.

There are a lot of people who live on benefits becasue they don't want to work. Not because they can't, but because they don't want to.

What do I get each monch, about £120 for two kids I think. And how much taxed income do I spend on childcare for the sole purpose oif going to work? A whole lot more, I'll tell ya. Am I priviledged? No, I am hard working. And it annoys me when people who prefer not to work think they are more entitled to my money than I am.

AtheneNoctua · 17/03/2008 16:57

Oh jeez, what atrocious typing

more money should not be taken from the people who earn it and given to those...

Coca · 17/03/2008 16:58

No one is suggesting taking more money from tax payers though, a few people simply wondered if it is right or wrong to take money on offer that you don't actually need. As you will see from my earlier post I admit that I probably stil would claim even if (fingers crossed!) one day I don't need to.

sophiebbb · 17/03/2008 17:00

If they means tested it, it would probably cost a fortune in inefficient administration and they would probably lose everybodies personal data anyway....

Coca · 17/03/2008 17:00

lol