Free school meals

[mutznutz]

I was just thinking. With so many Government and Council cutbacks, isn't it about time they stopped providing free school meals that cost untold millions of pounds to provide?

I mean we're already given child benefit to help with the cost of our children. Also, as long as you're feeding your child properly at home, what's wrong with providing a fairly inexpensive packed lunch if you can't afford to buy them a hot one? (not that they are particularly 'hot' nowdays)

Plus, if parents cant afford to feed their children when they go to school...how do they manage at weekends and during the 13wks holidays they get per year?

Then there are the parents who earn just above the threshold and cannot afford school meals...their kids would have a packed lunch so why not everyone?

yes wonderstuff is right wtc is different to ctc ,and a lot of familes get ctc in some form - and can i just add that i dont not give my children a hot meal in the evening cos im neglecting them or cant afford to but as i said earlier 3 days a week im in work from 8-6 and they are out till then too so its too late to start making a hot meal :hmm:

40 years ago (!) I had free school meals because my father had died and my mum was bringing me up on a tiny widow's pension and whatever work she could get.

I went to a very academic (and so fairly posh) girls grammar school and the system was that you filed into the dining room and put your money in a box. I had a large pink card that said "Free Meal' on it - and yes there were just two of us who had to do that.

I suppose it can be seen as character forming to shrug off the snobbish comments of a lot of yah yah girls, but it really upset me - and the thought of it still does all these years later.

Really shocked to hear schools still do stuff like this.

yes because of course there's no shame in having to walk into the school office to ask about how to claim free school meals as you're barely managing to sort your children's lunches out - let alone food for yourself

If I thought that me or my children were going to be stigmatised for them being fed a decent lunch during term time then I wouldn't have claimed them.

I would have continued eating one "meal" a day for myself (that often wasn't really a meal at all).

If (god forbid) I've not found work when my oldest starts secondary school and I find they have a system like the one that has been described I'll go back to living like that than have him face that.

stoppin - I couldn't give 2 monkeys when you give your DC's hot meals

and also - in addition to my last post - "stigma" is the VERY thing that often stops children that really need FSM's getting them.

Ending up on benefits was shite (especially as we'd dragged ourselves up by our bootstraps only a couple of years before with absolutely no help at all). But my god the shame I felt when I realised I was becoming ill from not eating enough and even then my DS's were only getting a very meagre lunch and an "average" dinner was indescribable.

I was mortified (still am embarrassed it now if I'm honest but the end is hopefully in sight of the FSM's)) about the fact that I had to admit to someone, anyone that I couldn't even feed my children 3 adequate meals a day.

bitching i know there was supposed to be more to the post but i got distracted and forgot

havent read all

my two have FSM canten style now at secondary,when they were first entitled i didnt bother (primary) but they then bought in hot meals so they gave it a go

my mum used to have a real go at me as i would then cook them a proper tea at 5ish and said they didnt need 2 big meals a day

they have been a real help now their in seniors and yes if i had to pay for both to use the canten out of my benefit it would make a difference

to whoever said about child benefit mine ends up going back to the kids as £6 a week each pocket money,phone top up,footy club for one and season ticket subs (though do get grant towards this but not all cost)though dont think will be kept going come April,so they more or less benefit totally from it

though i think we do ok and am not complaining

but even when i wasnt on benefit and had no children i never begrudged FSM as many say it is sometimes the only meal these kids get and they should not suffer because of poor parenting

a few years ago was a dinner lady and was also shocked at some of the lunches bought in and i leave in a fairly affluent area

Biscuits - my bf was like you (well her dad left her mum with five, for a younger woman, and never paid his maintenance). I used to give her my dinner money and she used to give me the ticket (not a card). My dad used to drop me in the jag and tbh I was more embarassed about that than she probably was about the free dinner(as it was called then).

YABvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvu. Do you know your born op?

• you sound lovely - how kind of you to do that for her (I appear to have something in my eye after reading that)

oh and finger print system at my boys school so nobody will know if your on benefit

mind you they still take in extra somedays as clubs etc mess up the short time to have lunch

Looking back, it was incredibly and pointlessly hurtful on the part of the school.

Oncemai you are obviously much nicer than the majority of girls I went to school with - although I doubt being dropped off in a jag is much of a problem in comparison! At my school you would have been fawned on I expect.

oh crikey she wouldn't at my middle school. When I got a place a a specialist music school (so private - but actually as it was government aided - or was it assisted - I forget which one it was - it was totally free for me as my parents didn't earn enough) and another school "friend" got a scholarship at the local private school we were derided (was a shock for her as she'd not suffered the bullying) and the last 6 months or so at that school were hell because of it.

It took a very brave soul to "flash the cash" in any shape or form at that school.

If all schools rolled out the fingerprint or prepaid card method the stigma would be totally removed.

GooseFatRoasties I am very aware that a minority of parents misuse their benefits to buy unnecessary items whereas a voucher system would ensure that children were fed and clothed.

To stigmatise a child is much more damaging than ensuring parents have the means to buy necessities for the family before the abusive or negligent "Dad" spends the benefits on booze, fags, gambling, drugs,

The benefit has to reach the recipient for which it is intended.

As a parent I'd make feeding and clothing my children my top priority whereas a chaotic family with "addiction" issues are less likely to prioritises their childens welfare.

I'd be scared to go shopping with my DS's if I had to buy the stuff in vouchers - I can't remember the last time we didn't end up in a queue with someone the DS's know from school (or in the queue next to them).

The thought of having to pull out a voucher to pay for their clothes/food (would vouchers be able to be used on a market?? - as I get the DS's school trousers from the man on the market who used to own a shop but had to close it down due to rent prices). (that's not to mention the fact that I wouldn't be able to save my pennies any more - £80 I saved last year doing that as I pay for everything with cash so it's easier to watch what I spend (if the wallet is empty there's no shopping to be done until the following Monday when I top it up again )!!!

I bet Waitrose wouldn't let you use your vouchers in there

plus - who would decide how much I need in vouchers to buy my food and clothing for the DS's?

What happens if they decide that £80 is the amount that a family such as mine (1 adult 3 children, 1 in nappies still - just for nights though) need each week for shopping - and I only spend £50-60 - what would I do with the extra £20?

Usually if I go "under" budget on my food I put the money into a little savings pot, or spend it on something extra as a treat for the DS's.

And clothes - same thing really - how would they know how much you "need"? I can't buy the cheapest school trousers for my DS's - they fall off 'em (I can buy belts but then they look really daft as they're all scrunched up ) and some years I end up spending a small fortune on clothes as they've all had a huge growrth spurt, other years they cost me less in clothes.

How do you set a figure for a voucher for clothing?? What of the parent that shops through ebay, charity shops and gets school uniform from the 2nd hand stall at the school (there's a proper name for that but I've forgotten it ). If they spend £50 a year/month/whatever less than the "average" that is decided on their DC's clothes are they stuck with vouchers when they may otherwise have been able to do something else with the money?

OP, there is no need to take that £456 million back out of child benefits. There is no problem. That is a really small amount of money - absolute peanuts - being spent on something that goes directly to children in need.

Child benefit is for anything and everything that children may need. If it's £20 a week, and school meals cost £10 a week, you are halving the benefit - why? On what basis have you unilaterally decided that that money is only for food - what about clothes, shoes, books, pens, paper, internet access (for their homework) etc?

Once again, this is a non-problem. Our budget can easily handle this. Why are you so concerned about this very small amount of money? What would you rather it was spent on? Do you think that if some scheme like the clawing-back-from-benefits one that you suggest were to be implemented, you would personally receive back an extra pound a week in tax or something? And even if you did, what would an extra £52 a year be worth to you, personally, relative to the knowledge that the poorest kids are getting at least one good meal a day for most of the year?

Usual- you can use the Health Start vouchers in there can't you? (you see another reason why vouchers is a crap idea - many shops that accept the HS vouchers DON'T abide by the rules. When I did used to get them on more than one occasion I'd hand over my vouchers with the shopping saying "not sure how much milk/fresh fruit/veg I've bought" - and they would scan the whole lot through - regardless of whether the whole lot was more than the amount or not.

Usual- you can use the Health Start vouchers in there can't you? (you see another reason why vouchers is a crap idea - many shops that accept the HS vouchers DON'T abide by the rules. When I did used to get them on more than one occasion I'd hand over my vouchers with the shopping saying "not sure how much milk/fresh fruit/veg I've bought" - and they would scan the whole lot through - regardless of whether the whole lot was more than the amount or not.

Can you? you can't use them in m & S though ..that thread was one of my all time favourites

I don't - I was asking you

oh - the M&S thread was hilarious

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/959526-to-think-its-a-disgrace-that-marks-n-spencers-do/AllOnOnePage\found it}

I agree with OP. The money should be taken from benefits. Or they should be given to everyone.

Alouise - do you really think the chaotic family would use the vouchers for food and clothes for their children? They would sell them for less than face value for money to feed their addiction - same as if they were given actual food and clothes. A free school meal ensures the child gets the food in troubled families.

Going to bed - am struggling now with this and tax credits. Feeling really sad.