So the Tories have voted against Marcus Rashford MBE' s proposal to extend free school meals for vulnerable children

[MagicoRomantico]

I wish I could say I am shocked. But unfortunately this is the government we have, and it is expected that they will always do the cruel/stupid [insert unpleasant adjective here] thing.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/12040/12110562/marcus-rashfords-free-school-meals-campaign-rejected-as-mps-vote-against-labour-proposal

@Janevaljane

But the state is already providing a benefit, directly aimed at children. Or are we just waving this away as superfluous, because that's a sure way to get it eventually withdrawn.

Firstly child benefit is not £30 per week for the first child, its £21.05. Families who qualify for FSM must have a household income below £16,190 and if anyone in the household is entitled to claim working tax credits they are no longer eligible, even if this means their income is below £16,190.

If you’re on universal credit your household income must not be more than £7,400 in your last three income assessments.

Unemployment is rising, food prices are increasing and the NMW is not enough to live on.

I didn't say all @Janevaljane but for the ones that are, do the vouchers ensure the child gets the food?

@jakor

As far as I understand it, child benefit is not in any way ring-fenced, and once paid into an account

Are the vouchers ring fenced? Can they be used on anything in the supermarket or specific foods? How do you ensure the child gets that food. Ime often children who qualify for FSM are from chaotic families & their meal at school may be their only meal.

The vouchers are provided to families in lieu of FSM out of term time to buy food for their children.

I’m not sure you want to go down the route of policing what people buy in the supermarket.

That's not what I said though.

Yes, I understand what FSM is and whywe have it.

I'm asking a perfectly sensible question that all families that earn under 50k? receive 84 a month for a single child and do people not think this should be spent on food for that child?

@Janevaljane

Child benefit is supposed to be for people to support their chidren. It's 140 a month for 2 children. That's plenty to feed at least one decent nutritious meal a day.

I keep forgetting that children don’t need clothes, shoes, access to electricity, gas or a home.

@Janevaljane

Yes, I understand what FSM is and whywe have it.

I'm asking a perfectly sensible question that all families that earn under 50k? receive 84 a month for a single child and do people not think this should be spent on food for that child?

Why do those families have anything to do with FSM?

@jakor

I didn't say all *@Janevaljane* but for the ones that are, do the vouchers ensure the child gets the food?

It ensures their family has enough money to feed the children, in line with government policy.

You can’t use the vouchers to buy tobacco or alcohol, which is more than can be said for family finances where the family doesn’t receive FSM.

I keep forgetting that children don’t need clothes, shoes, access to electricity, gas or a home

Food is a pretty basic need.

It ensures their family has enough money to feed the children, in line with government policy

Like child benefit.

Our local schools are giving sandwiches to FSM children, so if they have to isolate they can be picked up/delivered to them.

Our local area did food parcels rather than vouchers during lockdown/summer holidays. They had volunteers over the holidays to pack/deliver them. During the summer term SLT were delivering them as part of welfare check

@Janevaljane

I keep forgetting that children don’t need clothes, shoes, access to electricity, gas or a home

Food is a pretty basic need.

How do you suggest people who can’t afford to pay for gas/electric cook or store said food? If a family is diverting their CB to the food shop, how do they pay for things it was previously covering?

The voucher guarantees £15 of food per week per FSM child

Does it? I would bet everything I own that my parents would not have spent the voucher on food for myself. Knowing that meals would be provided would have been an absolute dream come true when I was growing up. Again, throwing more money at something doesn't solve the root issues, no matter how much people on here villanise people for doing so, and try and reduce reality to accusing people of bashing people.

@Janevaljane

It ensures their family has enough money to feed the children, in line with government policy

Like child benefit.

No, child benefit has nothing to do with eligibility for FSM.

Chaotic families need targetted help. I think the Tories won't do this, but they should.

@ineedaholidaynow

Our local schools are giving sandwiches to FSM children, so if they have to isolate they can be picked up/delivered to them.

Our local area did food parcels rather than vouchers during lockdown/summer holidays. They had volunteers over the holidays to pack/deliver them. During the summer term SLT were delivering them as part of welfare check

A lot schools my area gave up on the voucher system because it had so many bugs initially, and you could be waiting all day to log in to order the vouchers.

Our school business manager, who never lets anything defeat her, would log in on a Sunday morning to order the vouchers for that month.

She wouldn’t have had to if the government had awarded the contract to a company who had experience of designing such systems.

It ensures their family has enough money to feed the children, in line with government policy.

why not increase benefits then?

Chaotic families need targetted help. I think the Tories won't do this, but they should.

Exactly, and the people who deny this is the case are not helping anyone. Thinking that more money will solve the deep rooted barriers, struggles, and behaviours is very idealistic and in the clouds quite frankly. It's not even just about the children, targeted help would also help the parents, very few enjoy living chaotically, but there's no help or support.

@Janevaljane

Yes, I understand what FSM is and whywe have it.

I'm asking a perfectly sensible question that all families that earn under 50k? receive 84 a month for a single child and do people not think this should be spent on food for that child?

In most cases, like mine, I expect it goes into the household pot & is used for whatever is needed.

Mine will go into the bank on Saturday at which point I will fill up my petrol tank like I do every week.

People on NMW who are furloughed are currently being paid £6.97 an hour this drops to £5.84 an hour as of 1st Nov for those whose employers are forced to close due to restrictions with no onus on employers to top this up.

I can't be arsed doing the comparison but it's £114.80 a week drop for a 40hr week - do we really think any increase in UC will cover that?

@jakor

It ensures their family has enough money to feed the children, in line with government policy.

why not increase benefits then?

Quite.

@user116439526896

Austerity was purely ideological. It is terrible economics as a policy. I wish people would stop repeating all the bullshit they've been fed about pots of money and all the rest.

But they did a great job of convincing people an economy is the same as a household budget when the two are not remotely comparable. The government can literally print itself more money, for starters. (And yes, I am aware printing money has implications but it's not a bad thing to do in and of itself as part of a bigger picture.)

This!!! Best well kept secret! No, it doesn't all come out of taxes or dept as everyone journalists included repeat ad nauseam. When lockdown started they just printed a shit load more money. Was there on the bank of england website for everyone to see!

@ineedaholidaynow I prefer that system but obvs logistically difficult for some.

Signed the petition - thanks for the link. I am so pleased that in Wales this is already happening.

The cost of this would really be negligible. The proposal was to extend fsm over the holidays until Spring next year - so I am assuming over Easter - in other words five extra weeks. In comparison to the costs of the hopeless test and trace, the mess of Brexit, HS2 that will benefit very few to skim minutes off their journey time the cost of extending fsm is a drop in ocean.

I am ashamed to have a government that puts feeding hungry children so low down on their list of priorities.

@Janevaljane

Chaotic families need targetted help. I think the Tories won't do this, but they should.

They do.

They brought in the so-called “Troubled Families” programme in 2012 and it’s still going, though most local authorities have renamed it to something less judgemental.

She wouldn’t have had to if the government had awarded the contract to a company who had experience of designing such systems.

Had any government managed this? I don't understand what those in charge of procurement or tendering actually do.