Apprenticeships & Benefits?

Madmonk

My son is trying to decide whether to accept an apprenticeship which offers him just £100 per week or whether to go to Uni on a full grant & loan. The apprenticeship is with his school (he will finish his A'levels this June) but will I lose my child benefit and ctc which amount to £60 approx per week. I know I will lose them when he goes to Uni but I won't be keeping him (apart from hols). He likes the idea of the apprenticeship which will be working within his schools media department but we both feel that it's going to be hard at the present moment losing the cb & ctc. Sorry if this comes across as materialistic but times are tough financially!

MM:o:o

karenx

What is your question?

Surly its up to him whether he choses the apprenticeship or to go to uni?

Madmonk

Sorry but the question is do I lose my ctc and cb if he decides to do the apprenticeship?

MM

karenx

Yes as he is now working so he can pay his own way

Madmonk

Actually it's considered to be training? And £100 per week for 40 hours a week is less than the minimum wage for his age group!

MM

tbourner

Madmonk wrote: »

Actually it's considered to be training? And £100 per week for 40 hours a week is less than the minimum wage for his age group!

MM

It's an apprenticeship though, it's not full time work.


I did an apprenticeship in 1998 and have never regretted it, I'm now in a good job with the same company earning a much better salary.

Jowo_2

Madmonk wrote: »

Sorry but the question is do I lose my ctc and cb if he decides to do the apprenticeship?

MM

"we both feel that it's going to be hard at the present moment losing the cb & ctc." That is hilarious :rotfl:

Yes, you would lose the ctc and cb if he does the apprenticeship but he can pay you housekeeping from it.

It's a shame that your concerns with directly receiving benefits on his behalf has the potential to influence his career decision and that's it seems to be preferable from your point of view if he exposes himself to student debt to reduce your outgoings.

Reading your post makes me sad. It reminds me how my parents actively tried to sabotage my educational ambitions - my mother only permitted me to stay on for A'levels when she found out she'd still get child benefit (this was in the days before tax credits) or otherwise she would have forced me to leave school.

Do mean you would actively deter him from the apprenticeship because Uni works out cheaper for you!? At his expense?!

:rotfl:

jackieb

My son did an apprenticeship 6 years ago and was on less than £400 a month. Yes it's hard but they have to cut their cloth - my son didn't spend much. He's now on over £50k a year. I didn't take board from my son at this time so he always had money left. Can't your son pay you some out of his £100 a week? In my opinion it's well worth doing an apprenticeship. He might not have not much money now, but it can reap its rewards in the future.

tbourner

As above, even if he gives you £50 a week you'd survive wouldn't you? If he's been offered a place I would think it's an obvious choice.

BTW I was on the same pay on my apprenticeship, £7k first year, £8k second year and £9k third year. 1st year was college then 1 day college a week 2nd and 3rd years. 4th year I became an employee on £14k, following year pay rise to £16k! Doubt I'd have had all that if I'd done it on my own.

Graham29

Some posts on here leave me gobsmacked! Benefits shouldn't even be an issue, his future and what he wants to do should be the main concern! Children grow up and then benefits stop, it doesn't happen overnight and people know its coming. Sorry to be harsh, the decision regarding his future shouldn't be based on what money you will lose for him. If he gets his £100.00 per week he can contribute to the household and learn a skill.

Aarons_mummy

Yes you will loose out on the benefits but if he wants to go out and do this then I don't think you should stop him. My mum actively tried to stop me doing the apprentiship I done and I resented her for it. I also wouldn't try and prevent him from doing an apprentiship just because you will loose out on money, don't tell him about it either as he may feel guilty taking the job and resenting the fact he never got to do what he wanted because of your worries.

She still claimed child benefit (I never knew this until very recently) and was not in receipt of tax credits that I'm aware of and was also taking money off me £100 every time I got paid.

I was still able to pay for £180 worth of driving lessons and buy my own food/toiletries, go out etc and I honestly believe it was a great thing to do and to get into the workplace it is a great experience builder.

I think if you ask your son to pay something towards his use of the home (electric, gas etc) how much is your choice but I think £20 a week is plenty for his use. Ask him to buy his own food/toiletries unless he wants to pay you to do this for him then say £50 it means you only loose out on £10 a week (surely you can cut back somewhere to allow this) and he has £50 per week left from hard working, he's learning a skill/studying and learning about the real world.

It's a brilliant opportunity don't discourage him, let him make his own decision whether he wants to do it or not and not because you have financial concerns, this is your sons life and future you could potentially be ruining if he went down a path he didn't want to.