Anyone not using their child benefit yet?

[arabicabean]

Hi,

I'am a first time mum and have recently started receiving child benefit. I was interested in whether others were using theirs? Mine is paid into a new account I opened and its kind of exciting getting the monthly statements. Are you using yours yet or just watching it accumulate?

Do they not let you take packed lunches into Canary Wharf type place?

Do you have to eat there?

oh really.

The onerous tax burden in the UK? Don't make me laugh. The income tax in most other EU countries is a hell of a lot higher than it is in the UK.

Of course, an EU/EEA national is entitled to claim Child Benefit, just as a British national is entitled to live and work in another EU/EEA nation.

So, actually, Space, if I were you and claiming Child Benefit, I'd stop.

Right about now.

Because a visa that means you are not entitled to public funds means just that.

And you just never know who might grass you, some people aren't very sympathetic to people who claim benefits they're not entitled do and then whinge and moan about the country that is hosting them.

Only £18 a week?

DH and I are both higher rate tax payers but I still think £80 a month makes a difference, I certainly notice ours.

I love copying and pasting threads sometimes!

this thread would be funny, if it was not so sad, so self aggrandising and so witless

only £18

DH earns a decent amount, we do ok, he works damn hard, and yet, i still understand and know and appreciate how lucky i am. that there are a lot of families, too many families, for whom £18 a week is the difference between hot food and none.

between shoes and no shoes

between a bus to work or school or walking

between a child's birthday present or not

what a naive, ill thought out and almost laughably offensive OP

i hope the responses have given the OP pause for thought about the reality of day to day life for a lot of families

arabica, yes, I do (well did) work in Canary Wharf, dh still works in the city, and no I don't "need" my child benefit - I put more than I get in Child Benefit into savings accounts for my children each month. And I do know I am not the only person on Mumsnet or even this thread that is in the incredibly fortunate position to be able to that. Difference is, I would never dream of boasting about it on a public forum where it is obvious that there are going to be many other mothers who are in worse financial circumstances.
In the past I have often been annoyed by the attitude of some posters here who have occasionally turned any problem a better off poster has had into a "if you can afford to eat/buy a house/go on holiday stop complaining", but attitudes like yours make me realise they might have a point.

I think you should change your name and think more about what you post in future, because you might find mumsnet very helpful and illuminating in opening your eyes to more than the narrow, privileged world you live in

Arabica - I bet you wished you never bothered asking the question now dont you?
I understand where your coming from!!! When I had my DD i saved the money every week and when she needed new shoes etc i took the money from the account.

unfortunately lulu, i don't think it will give the OP pause for thought

do you understand where she is coming from Jellie?!

she clearly doesn't need the money, so she clearly doesn't understand why anyone else does

for Work Permit Holders, that is, people residing in the UK on a work permit or as dependent of a work permit holder, here is a handy list of public funds to which you are not entitled.

Note that Child Benefit is listed.

so the op lives in a different financial world to some/most (who knows) MN's, does that mean she should be attacked?
There are alot of people to whom £18 a week makes a massive difference, there are equally alot to whom it is nice but certainly not essential, and there are others to whom it is a drop in the ocean.
If the op has not been exposed to people living in different financial experiences she could well be unaware that for some people it is a necessary part of their income.

I can't believe expat is suggesting CB should be means tested - given the absolute shambles the tax credit system is in and the problems with other means tested benefits.

Personally I think CB is one of the major benefit sucesses in this country, BECAUSE it is paid to all, has no stigma attached to it, makes a difference to alot of people, and is easy to claim etc.

Ooops I only read the OP. I didn't realize that the thread had kinda got heated.

OP is a bit off with her reasoning.

not everyone is in the position of being able to save their DC child benefit. A lot of families really do need to spend their CB on the essentials. For some it is the difference between buying food or not!!!!

Oh what a sheltered life you seem to lead.

I think the op was just asking a general question and probably didn't expect the reaction she got. Yes she is very lucky to be in the position she is but all she asked was 'how do people spend their CB?

chasingsquirrels - I think the OP is a bit dim actually. It's the assumption that no other MNers actually need that money that has got my back up. If you're on this board for more than a nanosecond, you realise that some people struggle financially.

This isn't CanaryWharfNet ...

she might be a bit dim - does THAT mean she should be attacked?
...or just shown the way to a fluffier site?

You're right, Hatrick.
OP's first post is terribly gauche.
It doesn't fit with the persona that the poster portrays later in the thread.
Anyway, it got everyone's attention.

CS - I didn't mean that the OP was dim, just the post. And actually I'm beginning to smell a troll. This post in particular is very suss if you ask me:

"I do agree about the onerous tax burden and the car situation is just too awful. My husband has been taxed to provide this so I won?t be giving it away. I have been given examples of what £18 can buy, illuminating, I could also ask if anyone works in the City/Canary Wharf and they will understand why I used 'only'."

oh dear.. started somethign here haven't you?!!

I don't "save" ours, but if I have to buy shoes or big things, then mentally it comes out of the CB. I'd love to be disciplined enough to have always saved it an used it for holidays.. but i have to say I'd never save it and spend it on myself!! blimey.
....(I had kids so I could save my CB and get some luxuries....).

Ist time Mum hey? Let me give you a tip. go for 3. That way no 3 will never need new clothes, coz he or she has a reasonable probability of having a same sex sibling (I know, it doesn't alwys happen that way) - more to the point, at least one of your children will never need new clothes (depending on the order things happen)so it won't really cost you anymore than having 2 - and you.. you lucky lucky thing.. you'll have 3 lots of child benefit to save up and spend on yourself each month.

.. actually you'll need it - tummy reducing pants cost a firtune, tena pads for leaky bladders, support tights for varocise veins, face creams to cover the bags after all those sleepless nightsw.......

Don't take it to heart

As for ours - I have 3 children - the CB goes into our joint account and is just added to the other income that goes in. I don't particularly put it aside although I do know people that do that. We are fortunate enough to put a good deal of money away anyway into pensions, share schemes, endowments, savings...but I'm not naive and I realise that CB hugely significant to a great too big chunk of the population.

Please, get with the real world.

We had the letter reminding us that DD's CB will stop next year when she leaves 6th form.

That is when I will really notice how much it has helped over the years - just when our expenditure will rocket with Uni fees etc.....