Government refusing to feed hungry kids again

[noblegiraffe]

The new government food strategy out today should have included a plan to extend free school meals to all families on Universal Credit, as recommended by the review of the school system, and as requested by the teaching and head teaching unions among other educational professionals www.schoolfoodmatters.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/Education%20letter%202022.pdf

It didn't.

Child poverty is at 30%, free school meal provision 22.5%, so there are children going hungry and this situation will only get worse with the cost of living crisis.

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/heads-deeply-disappointed-lack-free-school-meal-extension

Don't worry about MPs going hungry though, with their subsidised restaurants and generous food allowance.

www.opendemocracy.net/en/food-poverty-parliament-mps-taxpayers-cost-of-living-subsidies/?saved

"Taxpayers have forked out £17m to subsidise bars and restaurants in the House of Commons over just three years, openDemocracy can reveal.

MPs have enjoyed cut-price meals, with the average cost of food in the Members’ Dining Room reduced by more than £1 between 2018 and 2021.

In fact, politicians could have a full three-course meal at the restaurant for as little as £10.41 last year."

Anyone else think that money could be better spent elsewhere?

Its the same for UC and working people the threshold is something like lower than 7k per year!

So chances are a lot working on UC pay for school meals also.

I don't know what the answer is because I see no logic in handing money out and then increases prices of lots of other things!

I think anyone on this thread who helps out in a Foodbank, works in education, social care , childcare knows that you are talking grade A bollocks.

How much of a prick do you have to be to believe that children should go hungry as punishment for having poor or crap parents?

’Political posturing won't feed children’

Pot. Kettle. Tory.

And that, my dear, is called Jumping The Shark.

Political posturing won't feed children

Extending free school meals provision to everyone on UC will.

Unfortunately poor money management is an issue. So raising benefits won't guarantee kids getting fed. It's easier to do it in the form of FSM.

Schools should stay open and child benefits scrapped, you can't throw money at the problem endlessly.

You're talking nonsense

Honestly!

Well yes, it costs money to keep schools open, so if you don't want to throw money at the problem, keeping schools open isn't a great solution.

That classic ‘feckless breeding’ line again. It was so feckless of me to have a pill fail and not notice the missed periods because I don’t get them on the pill.

So feckless to have my ex who had been a good boyfriend up til then decide he’d rather be a deadbeat dad than actually put any effort in.

So feckless of me to lose my job because of the pandemic and struggle to get another one.

So bloody feckless of me to breed 7 years ago when in a stable relationship and employed without planning for a pandemic & recession. Just so bloody feckless. But I should definitely sell all the nice clothes that still fit me from 7 years ago and dress in rags, oh and ditch my decent computer & phone I got when my Mum upgraded so I could do freelance work.

jesus. Some people have no idea how quickly things can change.

@Ncwinc The £15 vouchers are just loaded gift cards in my area and can be used for absolutely anything including alcohol

You can say that again. The amount of time people put into crafting their goady nonsense is astonishing.

Every day families are vulnerable in this day - where the cost of living is spiralling out of control and they are choosing whether to turn their heating on or wash their clothes or bathe themselves.
They are vulnerable to the whims of a government that doesn't care about them. They are vulnerable to forces outside their control dictating whether they can still afford to fuel their cars and feed their families.
And it seems they are vulnerable to narrow minded bigots judging them on their worthiness for help based on what car they drive or how they dress

It's worth it to some people if it detracts from a proper discussion of issues affecting the country.

Yeah you see what you’re meant to do - as soon as you hit a rough patch or a change of circumstances- is find all the most useful and valuable things in the house and sell them to the cash converters place for as little as possible so that you’re performing poverty correctly for the judgemental gossips. Anyone with a motability or other leased car is supposed to scrape it up and drive it gently into a wall until it looks suitably cheap…and so on.

I used a food bank last week. My car is 2020 plate.

I thankfully have it so I can get my disabled son around! But go ahead and judge

I agree with @cocktailsatsunset

"The point is many of the families are prioritising cars, petrol, sky TV, cigarettes and alcohol and junk food. We also see some lovely families clearly in dire straits, but working hard to get out of their situation and they deserve our compassion and generosity."

I have worked in healthcare all my life and have seen that some families have no idea about what constitutes a 'priority' when it comes to family budgets.

I too have seen smoking couples with designer clothes & buggies, women with french nails, lip fillers and smart phones accessing food banks.

Something wrong somewhere...

@Piggywaspushed yes. I regret wasting my time on previous responses now...

*I have worked in healthcare all my life and have seen that some families have no idea about what constitutes a 'priority' when it comes to family budgets.

I too have seen smoking couples with designer clothes & buggies, women with french nails, lip fillers and smart phones accessing food banks.*

So their children should go hungry?

2 of those criteria apply to me.

The foodbank I run has seen donations fall off a cliff in the last 3 months. We do have some cash reserves but once that's gone....

some people who purport to want to help those in need actually just want to feel superior. I've seen this with both church groups and foodbank volunteers, sadly.

Like the tory voter who puts a tin of smart price beans in the foodbank donation bin once a month and thinks thats job done. Or the devout church goer who gives used tubes of hand lotion*

I've seen teachers buy food and sanpro for kids out of their own pocket. I usually pay for school trips etc twice so another less fortunate child can go (anonymously of course)

Our gcse students who are sitting exams are currently being provided with breakfast.

And as for the pp decrying the mother who had beauty treatments - I can see what you mean regarding the percieved prioritising of that over her kids food. However, WHO suffers for your views? The CHILDREN. Let's not punish kids for their parents behaviour, eh?

Most foodbanks, ours included, have their fair share of "vulnerable" clients...substance abusers, those with mh difficulties and splds...

But the majority are people that had an unexpected car bill, or the boiler blows up, or a period of time on SSP.

Some of the comments on this thread are so very sad and so very ignorant.

*I personally know these people btw

I too have seen smoking couples with designer clothes & buggies, women with french nails, lip fillers and smart phones accessing food banks.

If that’s even true, they’re a minority and any children they have will doubtless come to the attention of SS sooner or later, but still I’d rather their children or elderly parents or whoever get fed than not, and if feeding a few chancers is the price of that, I’m perfectly happy. Better to feed too many people than miss people who need feeding.

For goodness sake, people can be earning 50k and still get Uc in some circumstances !