Charging rent for my 16 year old

haggisneepsandtatties

my son is still at school, so we cover everything for that, but he is responsible for buying his own clothes. We buy his school uniform, a good winter coat and decent shoes. we had thought about making him put a certain amount of money into a savings account himself - so he is the one actually doing the saving. I can see both sides of the argument about this, thats why its so confusing!! We still get CB and CTC for him as he is a student.

Wyre

My honest advice is get him to start paying for his schooling items himself as that is what the EMA is for, it will do him good to budget this for himself. It was the first thing I said to my eldest when she got her EMA - now she was responsible for books etc. The tax credits and child benefit go towards his housing and food and obviously any housing benefit etc take into account your lad as zzzLazyDaisy
says.

Is your partner your child's father? If not, then are you receiving CSA money from your son's father?

haggisneepsandtatties

Wyre wrote: »

My honest advice is get him to start paying for his schooling items himself as that is what the EMA is for, it will do him good to budget this for himself. It was the first thing I said to my eldest when she got her EMA - now she was responsible for books etc. The tax credits and child benefit go towards his housing and food and obviously any housing benefit etc take into account your lad as zzzLazyDaisy
says.

Is your partner your child's father? If not, then are you receiving CSA money from your son's father?

yes, we get maintenance from his father for both my sons. I never thought about getting him to pay for his school stuff - thats another point added to the mix! Lots to think about...

Wyre

It gets worse when they go to uni - no benefits for them, no maintenance and you are still expected to support them! Teaching him to budget now will help him immensely at uni - he won't be the one running out of cash at the end of term and living on pot noodles hehe.

zzzLazyDaisy

haggisneepsandtatties wrote: »

I never thought about getting him to pay for his school stuff - thats another point added to the mix! Lots to think about...

That is what the EMA is for. It isn't meant to be pocket money, it is intended to pay for school related expenses.

In my view you would be much better to ease him into the world of managing money by starting to pass some of those school related expenses over to him Travel? Lunches? Obviously you need to be careful that these expense don't exceed the EMA (my friend's daughter had her course consolidated with another at a college in a nearby town, just one week before she started. She gets EMA but it only covers her train fares, so her mum still subsidises her lunches and other school expenses)

terra_ferma

I think it's a great idea to teach him budgeting and get him to put some money aside. You wouldn't be charging him rent, but help him put money aside to build a future, there's a HUGE difference!

Maybe you can get him to take more responsibility and put the money in a saving account himself , rather than 'paying rent' (basically doing the same thing you say, under your supervision, but taking more responsibility so that he gets used to the idea of having same savings, and also not feel you are taking money for your own advantage).

I agree that it's not really 'income', like a benefit. You could set up a proper budgeting spreadsheet with income and outgoings, and decide how much money there is left over. Maybe 50% of his Saturday job, and use the EMA for school expenses etc?

MadelinesMum

Hi, my Mum and Dad did not charge me any rent until I left college and started a full-time job, and then they charged me £100 per month, which was approx 1/5th of my wages (this was a few years ago before the minimum wage, lol).

My daughter is 16 now and still at school. She's not been lucky enough to get a weekend job, although she's been trying hard. I haven't even though about charging her rent yet, but I will when she leaves school/education.

edeneve

Wow...your foster parents took all but £50....and got paid for having you..trouble with foster carers sometimes can be money motivated rather than altruistic reasons....hope they were nice to you in other ways.

I personally wouldnt take any money off kids less than 18 unless earning a fortune....Perhaps taking £10 a week and putting in a savings account.

pigpen

if they are in receipt of a bursary because EMA doesn't exist any more, that means they are doing a full time college course so you are still getting child benefit and tax credits.. then no you absolutely should not charge rent. I think it lets you off the hook for clothes, toiletries, days out and other luxuries though.

It might be an idea to have a talk about savings for uni/own place when older/driving lessons.

pesky85

I think 16 is too young to be charged rent, unless they have left education and are working full time.

Good idea though to pass on his schooling costs etc to him! I would say it's fair enough for him to pay for books, stationary, travel expenses and lunch money etc. That will teach him independence.

Also try to educate him on savings, encourage him to open a savings account. Are there any incentives you can offer him for saving? I don't know, a takeaway of his choice / day out / new item of clothing when he hits £50 for example? I remember being 16, you're often expected to be an adult when perhaps your not ready lol.