out of work adult child

DeeDee74

Yes shes an adult but the father hasent t seen or spent any money on this child ever
I think the least u could do is feed her for free.

princeofpounds

Personally I would charge some board. Especially if I was feeding her.

However, I would allow her to earn that board back. For instance I wouldn't be expecting her to babysit for free. That keep the principle but allows payment in effort as well as cash.

It's a tricky balance, JSA is really a tiny amount of money for anyone who has to support themselves, especially for the young.

KxMx

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

(snip)
I think it's odd to charge rent but then give her money back for clothes or nights out, in fact I think it's completely the wrong way round. You are charging her for a roof over her head which is an essential, but giving her money for non-essentials. I would give her the roof for free and leave her to sort out the non-essentials for herself.

I agree. If she got her board for free and perhaps made a contribution to the food shop, she'd have to learn how to save up and fund everything from her remaining JSA, including clothes/ nights out, which would be a good life lesson. Perhaps being in and out of care she hasn't been exposed to the costs of life or budgeting to the same extent as other people of her age.

She is also providing babyistting which i'm sure you know doesn't come cheap and helping around the house.

However if you need the money that is different.

gildius

When I was living at home, my parents charged me 10% of whatever I was earning - I thought that was a pretty good deal, doing it by percentage rather than a fixed sum, because JSA doesn't go very far. It means you end up paying what you can afford (not a realistic representation of being independent in the world, sure, but your parents/step-parents are there to help you get started).

19lottie82

I’m not sure. If it was a “regular” situation, then I would prob take £20 a week BUT given the circumstances, and info from your previous posts it sounds like this girl her head screwed, and she has lacked a lot of support from her father up until now (not his fault, from what you have told us), so maybe this is the time to help her out.

If she is actively looking for work, shows you all respect, and helps around the house, I’d let her keep her JSA. It’s not a lot after all.

I would however tmake it clear that a contribution towards the housekeeping will be expected, once she gets a job.

podperson

Personally I wouldn't be taking board off her at the moment unless you're struggling with the extra person to feed etc. But I would stop paying for things like her clothes and nights out - she should be paying for those out of her own money.
It could also help introduce her to the idea of budgeting if she's not had much experience with it before, which she won't get if you're paying for everything for her.

Manchee

princeofpounds wrote: »

Personally I would charge some board. Especially if I was feeding her.

However, I would allow her to earn that board back. For instance I wouldn't be expecting her to babysit for free. That keep the principle but allows payment in effort as well as cash.

It's a tricky balance, JSA is really a tiny amount of money for anyone who has to support themselves, especially for the young.

I would agree, when it comes to someone living independently, however the OP's step daughter isn't. She isn't having to pay for bills, top up her HA, buy food, etc with it. And yes, unfortunately I know what its like living on JSA, I was made redundant and unemployed for a year.

The JSA she is getting is purely for spends. I would be wary about topping this up by paying for her clothes and nights out, where is the incentive to get a job? I know shes prob a good kid but I think a lot of people, if they have quite an easy life like this, would start to lack motivation. Tbh if I could have 50 quid a week for spends and everything else sorted for me, I certainly wouldn't be working :rotfl:

I would agree with all the people saying to take some of her JSA as board, are you still doing all the cooking? Do you wash her clothes and hoover her room? I would agree 20 quid is a fair amount. Usually on JSA you would be lucky to get a fiver a week spare, let alone 50!

oliveoil99

How times change when I started my first job in 1968 I tipped up all my wages and was just given spends back. When I left the next year to join the army I still sent money home and made up food hampers to help out we felt our younger siblings and there were many were as much our responsibility as our parents.

embob74

I know it's not entirely alike circumstances but when my 18 year old DD was receiving JSA we took £25 a week as board.
I had calculated that she would be left with £20 for travel to the job centre and interviews and £10 personal spends.
We continued to buy her toiletries (deodorant, shampoo, feminine products etc) but anything else was up to her (e.g books, clothes, makeup).
We had a baby at the time and we expected her to look after him for up to an hour at a time if we went shopping and she was at home. We did always ask her and she never refused and it was never more than twice a week - we never paid her for this. However if we specifically planned something such as a night out or a meeting somewhere and we asked her to arrange it so she was available to babysit we would pay her.
She was expected to do the same things around the house that she had always done (keep her room tidy and washing up was about it tbh).

We discussed with DD the above and she agreed it seemed fair although if she hadn't gotten a job we would have looked to her paying more as she wasn't using much of her travel allowance. Not sure how fair she would have thought it then!

I based my workings out on the fact that I thought DD could be a bit lazy and was never money oriented so £56 a week for no work would have been a dream to her so I wanted her to know that working paid and being unemployed did not.
When she had a job we asked for £30 a week so she was quids in. Once again it showed that working pays. Maybe later down the line we would have increased that but she returned to education so now she doesn't pay anything even though she has a part time job. We no longer give her pocket money or pay for clothes though so it's pretty much an evolving situation.

Dovah_diva

glitter_fairy wrote: »

So my step daughter has moved in but lost her job, long story.

she is claiming job seekers allowance

do you think its fair to ask for some as board?

God, yes. My son received around £100 a fortnight I took half as keep.