How much board would you charge a 17 year old?

Brighton_belle

hayday75 wrote: »

I would charge as little as you could afford to ,your only 17 once

While this is true, the OP's younger son is only 'insert younger age here' once, and has had to give up trumpet lessons and karate.

Dunroamin

maman wrote: »

I was suggesting that OP saves his money for him and buys the laptop from that. I don't think that's harsh.

But, if the money pays for his keep, then there won't be anything (or not much) to go towards a lap top.

Anyway, even actual parents don't have to buy their children laptops for university unless they're comparatively well off. Kindly, accidental landladies certainly shouldn't feel that they have to do so.

Poppy9

Tell his SW you need financial help. They should be able to access something for you. He is classed as vunerable and "leaving care" so while they may have helped with him getting IS there must be something else. SW have access to discretionary funds. You may even be eligble to be classed as a foster parent. If necessary get your local councillor involved.

Personally his "benefit" is for you to keep him IMO so he should pass it all over. His wages are obviously his and maybe you give him the balance to make up his pocket money to the same as your son's Sounds harsh be has a home and care given to him by you and your family

.http://nchacti01.uuhost.uk.uu.net/carelaw/leaving.shtml
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/homelessness/help_from_social_services/support_for_16_and_17_year_olds

maman

Dunroamin wrote: »

But, if the money pays for his keep, then there won't be anything (or not much) to go towards a lap top.

Anyway, even actual parents don't have to buy their children laptops for university unless they're comparatively well off. Kindly, accidental landladies certainly shouldn't feel that they have to do so.

The way I read it, OP only has CB for her own son but he has a part time job for his own pocket money. The young man in question has IS which is more than CB plus other possible money from bursary etc. He also has a part time job for his pocket money. I'd have thought there would be money left over to be banked if you make a straight comparison.

AFAIK it's not uncommon around here for young people to have laptops at secondary school. So not to have one until university would be very unusual.

Dunroamin

maman wrote: »

The way I read it, OP only has CB for her own son but he has a part time job for his own pocket money. The young man in question has IS which is more than CB plus other possible money from bursary etc. He also has a part time job for his pocket money. I'd have thought there would be money left over to be banked if you make a straight comparison.

AFAIK it's not uncommon around here for young people to have laptops at secondary school. So not to have one until university would be very unusual.

But it costs far more than CB to keep a child and whereas it's right and proper that the OP pays this extra for her own children, it isn't right that she should have to do so for someone that she's kindly offered to house. She certainly won't have any money left over to save for him if he gives her his IS of £44 per week.

If he already has a laptop for school then he can use it for university, if he doesn't then he'll just have to manage with resources at school and the OP's home computer until he can buy it out of his student funding.

Treevo

OP if you claimed CB and CTC for him why would he be less estranged from his parents? He'll still be estranged for the purposes of student support at university.

jellyhead

Treevo wrote: »

OP if you claimed CB and CTC for him why would he be less estranged from his parents? He'll still be estranged for the purposes of student support at university.

I don't really understand student finance to be honest, I thought they would assess us if we were 'acting as parents' and that he had to be estranged for 3 years plus. He's got IS now, anyhow. I know how our income will affect our son, but I don't know the ins and outs of finance for people who are estranged, so MSE has been very helpful :T

I thought that claiming CB and CTC would tie him to living here, to be honest. I wanted him to have options if he didn't like sharing a bedroom.

Treevo

jellyhead wrote: »

I don't really understand student finance to be honest, I thought they would assess us if we were 'acting as parents' and that he had to be estranged for 3 years plus. He's got IS now, anyhow. I know how our income will affect our son, but I don't know the ins and outs of finance for people who are estranged, so MSE has been very helpful :T

I thought that claiming CB and CTC would tie him to living here, to be honest. I wanted him to have options if he didn't like sharing a bedroom.

No, it wouldn't - he would still be estranged from his parents and it would be there income that he wouldn't be able to be assessed by. If he has a Social Worker then they will be able to confirm that he is seriously estranged and therefore should be entitled to the full support.

Claiming CB and CTC wouldn't tie him anywhere - he could still leave.

I think you should sit down with him and explain that while you would love to keep him, you cannot afford to without help and so he will either have to pay his way or you will have to claim CB and CTC to enable that to happen.

While I think you're doing a great thing for this kid - you're doing it at the expense of your own when there are other options available and so you really owe it to them to explore these options. Or else they could end up resenting you and him, and I don't think I could blame them.

Prothet_of_Doom

What are the ADDITIONAL costs to you ? If it's MORE than £50 charge him £50, and show him your estimates so he knows what a good deal he is getting.
If it's less than £50 charge him £50, and put the rest in an account, and when he leaves give him a small windfall.

jellyhead

Well, I've been given a lot of advice, thanks everyone

I need to consider how much better off he will be than my own children, that's a good point. Up til now it hasn't been a factor, but the bursary alone is £1200 per year which is a lot more than my son gets per year in pocket money.

My son has a bike, a computer and a playstation though. The other boy will probably buy those with the bursary because I'm not in a position to buy that kind of thing for birthday or christmas presents.

Whatever I ask for the boy will understand because he knows how much his family were getting for him, and he was told that it costs £110 per week per person to live there. He was paying his wages, and using his tips to pay £1 per washload that he did, etc. so he's better off no matter what.