Can I save for my children's futures without it affecting my housing benefit?

Poppie68

keaton wrote: »

That's not what I'm saying, I'm saying lots of people use child benefit on alcohol or cigs or nights out for themselves.

I just want to put whatever I can afford, as little as that may be into a account to help my children and am being bullied for doing so.

Is it specifically child benefit these unfit parents spend on drink and cigs or after they have paid bills, fed and clothed the children out of all other monies they are left with CB.....Never understood why people think like you do.

cte1111

missbiggles1 wrote: »

That would be true if the money came from somebody other than the parent.

If the child's capital is held in a junior Isa or Child trust fund, then it will not be taxed, even if it originated from the parents. This is one of the advantages of these accounts.

So to answer the original query, save for your children in Junior Isas or by adding to the Child trust fund held by the eldest, as this will automatically have been opened for them by the government.

Lots of information online, including on the main part of this website about both Jisa and Ctf.
https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts For example

Good luck with saving for your children. Do bear in mind that the money will be theirs to do what they wish with, when they are 18 and you can't stop them blowing it on a big party / designer clothes, if that's what they want at the time. Hopefully they will use it for something sensible though!

tomtom256

keaton wrote: »

I take it you are assuming I'm on all sorts of benefits, I'm not, neither is my partner. We get a small amount of housing benefit each week, because even though we work, it is not enough.

Neither of us drink or smoke, maybe the wages we earn should be spent on that instead?

Please forgive me for trying to give my children less debt in there adult life by putting away £5 or so a week. Less than most people spend on cigs and alcohol.

I have reasons why I want too look after my children's future, reasons I will not go into on here, but feel free to judge.

So you don't earn enough to pay your bills and need housing benefit to support you and yet somehow you are going to be able to save for your children?

How can this be?

densol_2

Honestly ! Some of the replies to this thread are unbelievable. If someone is " entitled" to extra support from the Gov, but choose to live frugally, not drink, stuff themselves with food or smoke themselves to death - so they are able to save a little bit for their kids future so what !! Some of the benefit haters on this forum expects anyone on benefits to live in one room with a begging bowl for food !

OP - save for your kids future in a Gov approved scheme with money locked away till they are older. I wouldn't recommend them to spend it on fees though, think of that as a form of tax.

seven-day-weekend

Whist understanding your desire to save for your children, I don't suppose many people will be sympathetic to you doing so whilst claiming means-tested Benefits (which seem to suggest you don't have the means to pay your own way, let alone save).

However, if the amount saved doesn't exceed the savings limit for HB, then it is no-one's business whether you save your fiver or use the money on going out (including the HB authorities).

missbiggles1

cte1111 wrote: »

If the child's capital is held in a junior Isa or Child trust fund, then it will not be taxed, even if it originated from the parents. This is one of the advantages of these accounts.

So to answer the original query, save for your children in Junior Isas or by adding to the Child trust fund held by the eldest, as this will automatically have been opened for them by the government.

Lots of information online, including on the main part of this website about both Jisa and Ctf.
https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts For example

Good luck with saving for your children. Do bear in mind that the money will be theirs to do what they wish with, when they are 18 and you can't stop them blowing it on a big party / designer clothes, if that's what they want at the time. Hopefully they will use it for something sensible though!

I wasn't talking about tax, I was talking about whether money held in those accounts (originating from a parent) affected means tested benefits, which is a totally different thing.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

allison445 wrote: »

A child's capital does not affect your Housing Benefit.
Its your money if you wish to make your child's future easier than that's your choice.

Having worked in Housing Benefit now for 26 years could you point me to the relevant legislation and guidance notes...

...seeing as you have given advice please back it up with facts before someone does something that could impact on their benefit claim.

There is legislation to disregard children's capital.

• disregard the income and capital of any child or young person who is a member of the
family
HB(SPC) Reg 23; CTB(SPC) Reg 13
Treatment of capital owned by child/young person
P1.32 Do not include a child’s or young person’s capital with the claimant’s when calculating the
amount of capital to take into account.
HB Reg 25; CTB Reg 15

But then we decide who is the beneficial owner

Beneficial and legal ownership of capital
P1.101 Capital, in whatever form, always belongs to the beneficial owner, that is the person who
stands to gain. The person in whose name the capital is held is known as the legal owner.
Usually, the beneficial owner and the legal owner are the same person, but this is not always
the case. Examples of when the legal owner is not the beneficial owner are when
• a solicitor holds money on behalf of a client
• professional trustees hold property on trust for beneficiaries, under a trust created by a will
or by deed of settlement
• a trust arises as a matter of law
P1.102 In all these cases, it is clear that the legal owner is not the beneficial owner. The legal owner
holds the capital in their name and can deal with it, for example, by withdrawing money from
a bank account or selling property, but they do not own the capital, and the law will hold them
responsible to the beneficial owner for the way in which they deal with it.
P1.103 A person’s capital resources are represented by the amount that they beneficially own. Special
rules apply for capital which
• is owned by two or more people, see Jointly owned capital later in this chapter
• the claimant has not got, but is treated as having, see Notional capital later in this
chapter
P1.104 In the absence of a declaration of trust, any capital which is held in the claimant’s name but is
said to be for the benefit of another person should be
• regarded as beneficially owned by the claimant, and
• treated in the same way as other types of personal capital

We have people who open an account in the childs name and then use it a a bank for household spending - therefore we don't consider it the childs capital but the claimants.

The capital has to be in the childs name and the parent cannot have access to it.

We never disregard a childs capital at face value - we always ask for proof of the account and claimants access to the funds.

Thomas_The_Tank_Top

densol wrote: »

Honestly ! Some of the replies to this thread are unbelievable. If someone is " entitled" to extra support from the Gov, but choose to live frugally, not drink, stuff themselves with food or smoke themselves to death - so they are able to save a little bit for their kids future so what !! Some of the benefit haters on this forum expects anyone on benefits to live in one room with a begging bowl for food !

OP - save for your kids future in a Gov approved scheme with money locked away till they are older. I wouldn't recommend them to spend it on fees though, think of that as a form of tax.

You need a rest, precious. You appear to be heading for a stroke.

Benefits are NOT given out so people can save!

Darksparkle

Thomas_The_Tank_Top wrote: »

You need a rest, precious. You appear to be heading for a stroke.

Benefits are NOT given out so people can save!

No but if they meet the criteria to have it paid to them but do end up with some spare at the end of the month, why shouldn't they save it?

As long as they declare any relevant savings then there is nothing to stop anyone from saving their benefits.

I know many people who don't ever touch their child benefit, it goes straight into savings for when the child is older, should they stop receiving it rather than helping their child in future?

BigAunty

Thomas_The_Tank_Top wrote: »

Benefits are NOT given out so people can save!

To be honest, there is no legislation that compels a benefit recipient to spend their benefits for the purpose it is outlined or prevents them from saving (there may be capital limits or impacts on entitlement from their savings with some benefits but still no law that bans them from saving).

A HB claimant gets it to pay the rent but there's no criminal come-back if they spend it on other things and get into rent arrears (though there's civil legal mechanisms like eviction and small claims court to contend with).

A person may receive DLA and PIP for their health issues and elect to spend it how they wish, not just on direct medical or health costs.

etc etc