Child benefit – help please

Just received a letter to update details of 16 year old son and it asks if he lives at a different address from us, and is that for education only. Well he is at a boarding school, obviously only during term time, so do I say yes or no? Want to get it right and not do myself out of benefit unnecessarily. The phone helpline is useless.
Thanks in advance

You do not need to tell us about children away at boarding school in
the UK who come home in the school holidays.

Yes – he lives at a different address for education only.

Edit – ignore me then 🙂

do I say yes or no? Want to get it right and not do myself out of benefit unnecessarily.

So you would lie if the answer was not to your liking?

So you would like if the answer was not to your liking?

No, he wants to ensure the answer is correct, I don’t think he is suggesting he lies to get benefit that he is not entitled to.

Oh wow, this is gonna be good. 😀

This is gonna be excellent. Will it end up going down the means testing all benefits, the why have kids if you send them away all the time, or the buggery route? Or perhaps all three?

Yes as per johndoh I just want to make sure I answer correctly, whatever the outcome. Thanks Brant for the link

it asks if he lives at a different address from us, and is that for education only.

Which part of that question was ambiguous?

You qualify for child benefit and can afford boarding school? Chapeau!

This is gonna be excellent. Will it end up going down the means testing all benefits, the why have kids if you send them away all the time, or the buggery route? Or perhaps all three?

You forgot the obvious 😉

You qualify for child benefit and can afford boarding school?

You qualify for child benefit and can afford boarding school? Chapeau!

I guess the OP is prioritizing his child’s education, over other more material things. Seems reasonable to me, more reasonable than pulling a kid out of school for a cheap holiday as they are ‘gifted’ so it doesn’t matter.

I find the whole child benefit thing utterly perplexing – would it not make more sense economically to give people money to NOT have children ? (there you go wanlug – add social engineering to your list).

Why not just put the money into child health and schools where it can be directed to people who need it.

No. We need more protein robots to fund care for the elderly so you could only reduce the birth rate if you introduced euthanasia too.

i suspect a troll or someone with a generous benefactor here.. average uk boarding fees are £9560 per term according to the independent schools association and as many with kids in selective schools know the extras such as uniforms /books/ technology/ sports eqpt/trips and other costs can easily be another 10k per annum

so for someone to have that kind of disposable income out of a gross individual income of 60k per parent to claim child benifit would leave the parents with a threpenny bit each a week for themselves… not realistic..

if each parents take home from their 59999 was circa 42k per year that swallows one parents entire take home pay leaving 42k to run two cars/transport two adults to a 60k a year role, housing costs, utilities..thats about 800 quid a week and you ve a kid at boarding school.. nope cannot happen. troll

Ah that explains it – Aliens – of course, it has their stamp all over it.

would it not make more sense economically to give people money to NOT have children ?

Because not having children is a sound basis for an economy… 😕

Because not having children is a sound basis for an economy…

Sounds like perfect STW logic to me.

Services personnel can make use of a boarding school for their offspring, probably depending on rank.

10k per annum

on extras?
No where near that.

totalshell, you don’t need to be minted to put your kids in school. The chap i work with who earns a fair bit less than me has put his son into Private school, granted it’s not boarding, but it still works out at around £900-1200 per month for the privilage. It’s been done out of necessity as the local schools are shiiit and his son was getting bullied mercilessly. He ears circa £40K per annum, his wife about £10K in a pub. they’ve decided to forgo 2 cars, holidays moving house and many other niceties. It can be done, but as you point out it can make ou extremely skint.

also, CB is reduced from £50K to £60K, so what we are assuming really is a couple to have a potential £100K gross annual between them to still get full CB entitlement. At this level, it’s very easy to fund up to 2 privately.

I went to boarding school for my GCSEs and a levels, forces bursary and scholarships for being bright and good at sport meant it worked out cheaper per day than me being at home….I calculated that and showed my workings to my father when he was having another moan about how much the school was costing him. He wasn’t impressed.

their 59999 was circa 42k per year that swallows one parents entire take home pay leaving 42k to run two cars/transport two adults to a 60k a year role, housing costs, utilities..thats about 800 quid a week and you ve a kid at boarding school.. nope cannot happen. troll

The same logic says it’s impossible to live on a combined income of £60k per year while sending your child to a state school.

I think you need to run your numbers again.

IF both parents live at home they should class boarding schools as child cruelty. **** knows why its considered acceptable to get shut/rid of your kids away from you.

Depends, do they get pudding at boarding school?

Depends, do they get pudding at boarding school?

How can they have any pudding if they don’t eat their meat?

As said, forces personnel can get fees paid. I went to QVS in Dunblane which is still an earth shattering <£300 per term!

Hora – try getting bullied every day and hating every day of your life before condemning those who remove their children from such situations. I went entirely by choice and it was the best thing I ever did. Granted I can’t stand being under the same roof as my parents for more than a few days but it was a small price to pay. Nothing wrong with cutting the apron strings at the tender age of ten…

Totalshell – your maths is terrible, maybe your parents should have gone private 😉

also, CB is reduced from £50K to £60K, so what we are assuming really is a couple to have a potential £100K gross annual between them to still get full CB entitlement. At this level, it’s very easy to fund up to 2 privately.

This. Although all the families I know privately educating their children are minted from historical/inheritance/trust fund means rather than the work they do to pass the day, and I’m pretty sure none of them claim anyway.

Depends, do they get pudding at boarding school?

How can they have any pudding if they don’t eat their meat

I thought plenty of meat got eaten at boarding school especially Catholic ones

If you live in a remote enough location, boarding school isn’t optional.

Hora – try getting bullied every day and hating every day of your life before condemning those who remove their children from such situations. I went entirely by choice and it was the best thing I ever did. Granted I can’t stand being under the same roof as my parents for more than a few days but it was a small price to pay. Nothing wrong with cutting the apron strings at the tender age of ten…

Bear in mind Hora is the STW village idiot, so be very careful of him dragging you down to his level and beating you with experience.

Depends, do they get pudding at boarding school?

Just a soggy biscuit.

Not all boarding schools are elite, fee paying ones. The Wife went here in her youth. All because she lived at Rochester and then Kielder.[/url]

Richc I wont stoop to your level. Or if I did I’d say maybe you should have drunk more milk in your youth and nutrients.

He said granted he cant stand being near his parents for too long.

there are some pupils boarding at state schools. Quite a few kids from more remote scottish islands will board 4 or 5 nights a week at a comp and fly/sail home for weekends

http://www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/E/admissions.htm