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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

What happens when your child reaches 16? does the child benefit, tax credits stop etc, even if they choose to go back to full time education?

32 replies

SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 11:30

my dd will be 16 next year and im worried how we will manage financially, ive had a provisional tax credits award through for next year which anticipates her birthday slashing my mon ey in half, ex p has already rung me and gleefully told me that he will no longer have to pay maintenance and as far as i can can see, child benefit stops too.
ive worked out i will be 400 pounds a month down and dd has no idea what she wants to do with her life when she leaves school, she seems to think shes just going to bum around with no job etc and im going to keep her, but from what i can see, im not sure what will happen if she goes back to full time education

OP posts:
Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 11:31

apologies for poor grammar in the title

OP posts:
fairydust · 12/08/2006 11:33

IF SHE GOES TO FULL TIME ED - YOU'LL GET IT ALL TILL SHE'S 19 I BELIEVE.

fairydust · 12/08/2006 11:33

sorry for caps

magic5 · 12/08/2006 11:35

if she stays on at school or any full time education then you will still get child beneifit and she will get paid attending but if she doesnt work then she wont be intittled to any benifits has you have to be eighteen.i personally would give her the option i certainly wouldnt tolerate any of mine leaving school and doing nothing.i would put it to her in laymens terms have money and get qualifications or have no money at all as you will pay anything other than her food and keep roof over her head,she soon get fed up with no monies for clothes,credit going out etc.

zippitippitoes · 12/08/2006 11:35

If she remains in full time education eg sixth form or fe college you will still get child benefit until she is 19 or leaves educatyion and if you have a qualifying low income she will get up to 30.00 a week EMA too

If she leaves then you get nothing for her she has to get a job and pay you for her keep

magic5 · 12/08/2006 11:36

i meant to also say if she stays in full time education then her father will have to pay maintence till she is eighteen.

Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 11:51

up to 19..thats definitely helpful..i didnt realise her father would have to pay maintenance still

OP posts:
Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 12:10

the thing that worries me is that she has no ambitions for the future, no idea what she wants to do, i can see her saying she will get a job, then lying in bed all day claiming she cant get one.

OP posts:
UrsulatheSeawitch · 12/08/2006 12:16

If they stay in education you get child benefit until the 1st Sept (or thereabouts) after they turn 18 and leave. (As DS1 turned 18 on July 13 he only gets it for 6 weeks after his birthdays - he has 2 friends with birthdays on 1st Sept and they get it for a full 19 years _ feel v shortchanged!)

If she has no idea what to do after GCSEs then she might as well continue to study - has she been in touch with connexions to see what's available for her?

Lying in bed all day has to be firmly eliminated as an option! If she doesn't have a job or go back to school/college then get her up and out of the house and down to the jobcentre at 9am every day

UrsulatheSeawitch · 12/08/2006 12:17

Oh yes, and as zippi said she gets £30 a week just for turning up to classes (but does have to turn up)

crunchie · 12/08/2006 12:19

Spacecadet, I think this is the time you have to decide to be tough but fair. I agree with another poster who said you should agree to house her and feed her, BUT NO MORE. No 'pocket money' no money for clothes, going out ANYTHING. Basically once she runs out of credit on her mobile phone she will get a job!!

Tell her this, MEAN IT and STAY TOUGH!!!

Quite simply if she stays in bed all day, she will soon get bored!! There will be NO MORE MONEY.

There are loads of opportunities for her, she doesn't ned to stay at school to be in education, she could go to college and start learning via a practical course, or is there 6th form college in your srea? Locally to us it seems to be very popular as they treat the kids in a very different way than school and are more geared up for the whole teenage 'I'm bored' thing. Good luck

zippitippitoes · 12/08/2006 12:20

I would get proactive with her. Look at apprenticeships. Get her application forms and fill them in yourself if necessary. Lying in bed is not an alternative.

Does she have any interests?

And any job at all is better than none.

mumeeee · 12/08/2006 12:28

If she is going to go back into full time education you will still get child benifit until she leaves but you need to let the tax office to let them know. I did this for my 16 year old who starts college in September and we willnow get benifit for her untill the first Septenmber 2008 which is about 6 weeks after she has finnished college. You will also still get child tax credit but agin you have to let them know.

Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 15:53

thanks everyone...she doesnt really know what she wants to do, she changes her mind every five mins, she was doing really well at school but after we moved, she got in with a different crowd.
she hasnt been doing any studying and only just scraped her year 10 exams, shes going to the local primary school for work experience which i find hilarious because she cant stand children.
shes made no attempt to even get a saturday job because her father has told her that as he pays maintenance for her, she doesnt need to work as she should get the maintenance..ha ha..yeah right.

OP posts:
Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 15:54

mumeee, so i will still get tax credits for her if she goes to fe, thats great!
ive been worrying that either way ill have an expensive teen to look afgter and no financial help!

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UrsulatheSeawitch · 12/08/2006 16:32

Show her this about EMA, spacey. It might concentrate her mind a bit.

Her father is a real hero, isn't he . Have you thought about sitting her down with all your utility bills, supermarket recipts etc and working what her share of those costs is?

Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 16:44

ursula..been there and done that! she just has no idea, her ever helpful father, told her that she should be given the child benefit as well
his excuse for never once even buying her a pair of shoes has always been, i pay maintenance, tell yopur mother to take it out of that..i get 100 punds a month!
but she has no idea of money etc, she still expects me to give her an allowance and when i told her to get a saturday job, she went beserk and rang her father,,guess wgat he said..i pay maintenance..therefore....she basic\ally thinks that while im getting financial help for her, she shouldnr do a thing.

OP posts:
UrsulatheSeawitch · 12/08/2006 17:03

Oh sorry - sucks eggs time

But even though she believes him that she is entitled not to work while he pays maintenance, if she doesn't work when she leaves school the maintenance will stop - what does she think happens then?

I wish they would do Money at school, it's been suggested in the media before - it could be one of those ½ GCSE things.

Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 17:17

ursula, you are right, kids leave school with no idea of the REAL world out there.

OP posts:
singledadofthree · 12/08/2006 17:53

have been trying to find out the same. youngest ds is 15 and want to know what happens if i'm getting tax credits when he is 16. he will be staying on to do A levels until 19. never had any maintenance so dont know about that either.

Original poster
SpaceCadet · 12/08/2006 18:39

singledad-looks like you will continue to get your child benefit etc..im not looking forward to ex p finding out he still has to pay maintenance if dd goes to fe!

OP posts:
Cam · 12/08/2006 18:53

What a shame your ex-p is undermining the hard work you're trying to do to keep your dd on the straight and narrow, maybe there's the alternative scenario of her going to live with her father so he can support her fully/persuade her to stay in education or get a job?

That might wake his ideas up a bit and stop him being so idiotic.

Plus, yes he is still liable for maintenance whilst she is in f/t education up to 19.

Judy1234 · 13/08/2006 12:09

Our divorce order says I (the mother, higher earner, resident parent) have to pay for the children's schools fees plus university costs too so it depends what was ordered by the court/agreed in an order at the time. Also children of divorced parents I think have a right to claim support at university from the parent they don't live with which is surprising as children whose parents live together have no obligation to pay them anything when they're at university.

Nemo1977 · 13/08/2006 12:14

if she goes to college/school she should get child benefit, also am sure your dh is accountable until she is 18. Plus she should get that staying on fund think it is about £30 a week to help her getting to college etc.

hana · 13/08/2006 12:28

there was a good website mentioned in the money section of guardian yesterday ( Martin Lewis - he's got a great website too called moneysavingexpert.comm)

check out entitledto.com and after (apparently) you put in some basic details it reveals what benefits you're entitled to. haven't tried myself but will be doing later!!