Does my daughter have to tell anyone that she isn't working??

frogga

Confusing title? Didn't know how to word it!

My 18 year old has just finished her 'A' levels.
She isn't going to a 'brick university' she has registered with the OU and will be staying at home.
We are supporting her financially.
She is looking for a part time job, but at the moment she hasn't got one so isn't paying Tax or Insurance.
She will be studying with the OU full time and my not get part time work.
Do we need to tell 'the authorities' what she is doing?
Do we need to buy her an insurance stamp?
She won't be claiming anything, but family have told me she needs to 'register' as 'they' need to know what she is doing?

Anyone know the answer to this? I've looked up online but can't seem to find out? Not sure how to word the question

Thank you in advance

Frogga

agrinnall

I would say not, I'm not sure who 'family' think she should register with - she can't register with the Jobcentre as she's not looking for work or claiming any benefits, and I can't see that HMRC would be interested.

What may happen in the future is that the NI Contributions Agency may offer her the opportunity to make additional contributions to account for missing years in her record, but I'd expect that to be some years down the line, and may not be necessary as she'll have the whole of the rest of her working life to make enough contributions for full state pension entitlement (that's if there is any state pension in 50 years time of course!).

frogga

Thank you. A certain member of the family is a bit paranoid and he was insinuating that 'Big Brother' needs to know what you are doing. You just can't 'do nothing', although obviously she isn't going to be 'doing nothing'!

I thought the same as you, she can't sign on as she isn't job seeking, so who else would want to know. I understand what you say about the NI contributions. I got a letter like that a few years ago as I had 5 years 'off' to look after my preschool children. Maybe I could/should be buying her an NI stamp to avoid that?

GwylimT

There's no need to buy her stamp, if she chooses not to work after university she can purchase her own.

specialboy

Can you change your text to black, it's hard to read in green.

frogga

Hope this is better?

I'd rather buy her a stamp now if possible to avoid her have a large amount to make up in the future? She won't 'choose' not to work after getting a degree, she'll be desperate for the opportunity to contribute to society and start paying her way

t0rt0ise

The rules at the moment are that you need 35 years of NI contributions for a full pension. She has plenty of working years until retirement to get 35 years. So don't waste your money now on unnecessary NI contributions.

purplerose

Don't know about England, sorry, but here, in Scotland, when an 18 year old leaves school education the local careers service will attempt to contact them to find out what they are doing and this information goes into the school leaver destination statistics for the government. The careers service are also checking whether the young person needs any help to find something to move onto. As I said, not sure about England's career service, but these are the only folk I can imagine who might want to know what she is doing.

Also, if they are in full time education it means you may still be eligible to claim child benefit for her until the age of 19 but not sure how it might work with the OU.

frogga

Thank you both, that's put my mind at rest, I shall fret not :beer:

mandragora_2

In England, Connexions will follow up with the school/college to get details of 'leaver destinations', but there's no obligation on you to tell the school/college or anyone else where she is and what she's doing, if she isn't claiming anything. I imagine they would count her as being in education, as she's doing something through OU - the youngsters they intervene with (and throw resources at, and get funding for) are those who show up as 'NEET' - not in education, employment or training. Even then, engagement with the relevant services is something which is voluntary.

frogga

It's funny because her school were VERY INSISTANT that she decide to 'do something' and they kept on and on at her to chose a path. I'm guessing now it was because of their school leavers statistics, but she just didn't know what she wanted to do? It was only once she realised that doing nothing was quite boring that she decided she did want a degree after all