My teenage son wants to get a job,will i affect my tax credits and housing benefit?

Macro_3

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

As the OP's son is in full time further education and is still her responsibility to provide for him and receives state funding to do so.

I'm all for young people paying their way but not at this age; I doubt that you paid your parents keep when you were still at school!

I agree, but I would suggest to him that I wouldn't ask for any board so long as he maintains his grades and contributes 20% of his net pay towards his university savings. But maybe I'm just mean

Mrs_Arcanum

Would take some money from his wages regardless. Even if all you do is save it for his future; he will get used to paying keep from wages and you will have a fall back position should you lose benefits. If neither occur it can go towards a larger expense he may have at some point.

Sixer

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

As the OP's son is in full time further education and is still her responsibility to provide for him and receives state funding to do so.

I'm all for young people paying their way but not at this age; I doubt that you paid your parents keep when you were still at school!

I agree completely. Bringing up children is about stages. Paying for food, gas and electricity isn't really the right stage for a kid doing A levels or similar. That will come at 19 when they head off to uni or get a proper, full-time job. This is the stage (14-18 in my judgement) when they need to pay for their own clothes and entertainment and learn that they can't go to the pictures with their mates every Saturday afternoon AND have £70 trainers AND have the latest Call of Duty the second it comes out. And that pocket money from parents might just stretch to one of those things but if they want more than one, then they'll have to get a part-time job to pay for it.

My kids are 14 and 16. They get an allowance from me into their bank account each month. From that, they have to buy any clothes that aren't school uniform, school lunches if they are too lazy to make themselves sandwiches (this one was a good lesson!), any outings with friends and any games and whathaveyous that they want to buy. There is also an expectation that they will cough up for halfway decent Christmas and birthday presents for their grandparents, sibling and nephew.

They soon found it didn't stretch as far as they would like it to, even though it sounds like quite a lot of money, and so the oldest got himself a Saturday morning job in the local shop and the youngest washes my father's car every week for a fiver (chores in our house are expected from each family member and not paid extra for) while he waits to get to fifteen and can do what his brother does.

jjuicyllucy

Thank you for your support Melly 1980 & Oldernotwiser. Its funny how a simple question can make me look mean, stinjy and a scrounger.... lol.

And as for being using my son as a cash cow "padded John", that simply is not true and anyone living on low income is well aware of the expense of raising a family. Or is the name padded john a reflect on how fat your wallet is?

Errata

It seems to me that the problem is not that the son wants to work and it may effect the family income, but that one person on minimum wage is the sole earner for a family of five.

jjuicyllucy

Errata wrote: »

It seems to me that the problem is not that the son wants to work and it may effect the family income, but that one person on minimum wage is the sole earner for a family of five.

Thanks Errata that is exactly my point :j

Errata

Quite - so is there no other adult in the family that can work? Any contribution from the children's father?

SpendlessKaren

Sixer wrote: »

I agree completely. Bringing up children is about stages. Paying for food, gas and electricity isn't really the right stage for a kid doing A levels or similar. That will come at 19 when they head off to uni or get a proper, full-time job. This is the stage (14-18 in my judgement) when they need to pay for their own clothes and entertainment and learn that they can't go to the pictures with their mates every Saturday afternoon AND have £70 trainers AND have the latest Call of Duty the second it comes out. And that pocket money from parents might just stretch to one of those things but if they want more than one, then they'll have to get a part-time job to pay for it.

My kids are 14 and 16. They get an allowance from me into their bank account each month. From that, they have to buy any clothes that aren't school uniform, school lunches if they are too lazy to make themselves sandwiches (this one was a good lesson!), any outings with friends and any games and whathaveyous that they want to buy. There is also an expectation that they will cough up for halfway decent Christmas and birthday presents for their grandparents, sibling and nephew.

They soon found it didn't stretch as far as they would like it to, even though it sounds like quite a lot of money, and so the oldest got himself a Saturday morning job in the local shop and the youngest washes my father's car every week for a fiver (chores in our house are expected from each family member and not paid extra for) while he waits to get to fifteen and can do what his brother does.

Wow I am amazed at what you expect your children to pay for .. exactly how much is their allowance ? how can you expect a child of 14 to buy their own clothes ?
I really am shocked by this ... they are children not adults in the workforce !!!

allen35

Good luck to your son using his initiative to get himself a little job whilst still at school/college and so young.

As already posted your benefits aren't affected just yet, not until he leaves for uni' or leaves college for good.

Shouldn't this post be full of congratulations bringing your child up to understand that education and work ethics are good for his future and will learn him a lot.

Whist you get benefits for him leave him be (as you've said) and let him enjoy his money.


Don't understand though why others have to look at the negatives of peoples lives when not being asked......

Sixer

SpendlessKaren wrote: »

Wow I am amazed at what you expect your children to pay for .. exactly how much is their allowance ? how can you expect a child of 14 to buy their own clothes ?
I really am shocked by this ... they are children not adults in the workforce !!!

I give them £20 per week. I think that's quite a lot of money, personally! Older son earns another £20 on top of that. On top of that they get birthday money and Christmas money from a large network of extended family.

What is the point of a Christmas present from a child who hasn't actually bought it? Why do you think they shouldn't buy their own clothes? Or pay for their own outings with their mates? Like I said in my original post - parenting is all about stages. Kids don't become adults overnight. At what point do you think they should start learning to budget? The day they leave home and still have no idea how to cope in the big world? It's my view that I would have failed completely as a parent if I didn't teach them how to be a grown up in stages.

At 14, they're old enough to choose their own out-of-school clothes. They're old enough to add up. They're old enough to make informed choices about their own leisure priorities. But knowing what they want is only half the story in the real world, isn't it? If they can decide what they want, they can equally decide what they want most/can afford. Should they choose a new pair of trainers? Or a trip to the cinema? Or a new game? So I get them to do that. They're also old enough to make a sandwich for lunch and old enough to know that if they are too lazy to perform this simple, five-minute chore, they'll have to buy their own canteen lunch.

What they're not old enough to do, is be responsible for the food on the table, the warmth of the house, or the family's car, or any of those other very adult things. But when they *are* old enough to be responsible for those things, they will already have the financial management experience and techniques to do it well. They won't if I don't do the right thing as a parent by not teaching them how to budget for non-essential items.