Why Do They Want To Know About My 5 Month Old Sons Savings On HB/CTB Form?!

NASA_2

ladyrider260 wrote: »

Erm....I've worked since I was 14 thankyou very much! As has my partner & both sets of parents.

It's taxes that WE'VE paid! :mad:

You obviously don't read the whole thread.

I have read the whole thread, thanks, but if your child has many thousands in 'savings' then you dont necissarily need to claim benefit.

You could get JSA(C) for 6 months.

Like I say - I want to know you (And by you I mean anyone who claims benefit) really need the help if you claim benefit.

aliasojo

ladyrider260 wrote: »

I'm hugely frustrated......it shows eh?

Yip.

bestpud

The problem here is you are saying you should be kept by the taxpayer while your son grows a nice little nest egg for his future. It just doesn't work that way.

This is a side effect of our generous welfare system I think; peoples' expectation often excedes the reality.

Benefits should be a short term measure and should be there to help you through this sticky patch. Child saving plans should rightly be put on hold as they are not essential for the here and now.

As for savings he already has, I think the allowance of £3k is pretty generous tbh. I can't imagine his grandparents will be saving so much that he will excede this in the time you will be reliant on benefits, will they?

That said, I do understand your point about nothing being private any more, but then, how much worse would you feel if there were no system to break your fall?

aliasojo

bestpud wrote: »

The problem here is you are saying you should be kept by the taxpayer while your son grows a nice little nest egg for his future. It just doesn't work that way.

Child saving plans should rightly be put on hold as they are not essential for the here and now.

To be fair bestpud, it wasn't the OP who was going to be saving, it was someone else. Different if she was saving for her son whilst claiming help to live...that would be wrong I think, but that isn't the case.

viktory

aliasojo wrote: »

To be fair bestpud, it wasn't the OP who was going to be saving, it was someone else. Different if she was saving for her son whilst claiming help to live...that would be wrong I think, but that isn't the case.

Point taken, but really it doesn't matter who is doing the saving, does it? Be it the OP or the extended family, the fact is if there is a substantial amount of money lying around (and before the short tempered OP bares her fangs again I appreciate that this is not the case here) then it should be used for living purposes, thus lessening the burden on the hard pressed tax payer.

bestpud

aliasojo wrote: »

To be fair bestpud, it wasn't the OP who was going to be saving, it was someone else. Different if she was saving for her son whilst claiming help to live...that would be wrong I think, but that isn't the case.

Yes, I know it's slightly different, but, as I said, it should be a short term thing so I cannot see he will accumulate that amount if money in the time they will be on benefits.

My point was in response to the OPs comments, rather than their circumstances iyswim?

Personally, I think a lot of this is because we are led to believe the benefit system in this country provides for everything. It sets up a false expectation imo.

If the system weren't like this, we would not dream of expecting money to live on while our child had money sat in an account. I guess in some countries we'd have to be at begging level before we'd qualify for a thing.

I really do understand how emotional the whole process is and was trying to encourage objective thinking instead...

aliasojo

viktory wrote: »

Point taken, but really it doesn't matter who is doing the saving, does it? Be it the OP or the extended family, the fact is if there is a substantial amount of money lying around (and before the short tempered OP bares her fangs again I appreciate that this is not the case here) then it should be used for living purposes, thus lessening the burden on the hard pressed tax payer.

Tbh, I'm not sure at the moment how I feel about that. I think (at the moment but I'm gonna mull it over, lol ) it does matter.

If for arguments sake the GP had opened an account and held the passbook and deposited x amount every week or month into it....would it really be right for the OP to then say, I need this money to live on simply because it was her son's? If the OP had opened the account but it still wasn't her putting the money in there, does it then make a difference to whether she's entitled to use it or not? It's not hers.

I honestly do see the issue but I'm not sure it's clear cut.

aliasojo

bestpud wrote: »

Personally, I think a lot of this is because we are led to believe the benefit system in this country provides for everything. It sets up a false expectation imo.

Do agree with you here.

bestpud

aliasojo wrote: »

Tbh, I'm not sure at the moment how I feel about that. I think (at the moment but I'm gonna mull it over, lol ) it does matter.

If for arguments sake the GP had opened an account and held the passbook and deposited x amount every week or month into it....would it really be right for the OP to then say, I need this money to live on simply because it was her son's? If the OP had opened the account but it still wasn't her putting the money in there, does it then make a difference to whether she's entitled to use it or not? It's not hers.

I honestly do see the issue but I'm not sure it's clear cut.

It depends how much it is I guess.

It isn't taken from benefits pound for pound, and only amounts over £3k per child, so it would have to be quite a sum to make a significant difference to benefits, and I guess it could be argued they can pay it back once they are straight again.

It seems unfair in one respect, but all rules are geared towards those who will inevitably abuse the system andnot those who are just trying to do the right thing.

Tiggergirl

viktory wrote: »

Point taken, but really it doesn't matter who is doing the saving, does it? Be it the OP or the extended family, the fact is if there is a substantial amount of money lying around .

That could well be easier said than done in some cases. Any money held in a child trust fund simply cannot be withdrawn to live on. It belongs to the child when they turn 18, so although there could well be over 3k in there, it's not exactly 'lying around'.