to think a £7500 income cap on free school meals is a deathwish?

[thirdhill]

I'm so shocked to see the Children's Society analysis reported in most papers today about proposals to introduce a £7500 income cap on free school meals.

My initial reaction is this is sheer vindictiveness, taking away a meal from kids in dire need. Will the money spent on a daily lunch for a few children save our economy? Or perhaps we can be relied on to not care anymore? Or is there a wider picture nobody is reporting? My understanding is that the present income cap is £16k, which already seems a challenge for a family of say four.

Sarah Teather, the Minister, is a lib dem MP but this must tar both parties for many and seems an absolute deal breaker for mobile voters. Straw that broke the camel's back, death wish, etc.

Curious if anyone knows any more to this.

TIA

[theDevilHasTheBestMNNames]

ivykaty44 yes I accept many government in this country think only short term.

I did point out the short term implication that school will lose money which will affect all DC at the school including mine, and behavior will probably not be helped adversely affecting my DC. I'm sure the government will try and blame teachers for this and any possible poor results and blame poor parents and parenting for any ill results.

Still despite not being any where near this income bracket it makes me think the government doesn't care about DC which also means my DC. I'm due to vote soon in local elections as is DH and we'll vote in the next general election. This doesn't incline me toward the coalition parties. I would have thought they would have at least considered that far ahead.

[Agincourt]

These people will still qualify though if they aren't working enough hours for WTC and are on less than £7500 or am I missing something!?

Not if their partner earns £7501

[mayaswell]

You ask why should taxpayers pay for this?

Because children not getting enough to eat is a national disgrace and as society we should ensure that our most vulnerable citizens have a safety net.

Bleeding heart liberal? I'll say I am.
Entitled to say it? As a higher rate tax payer, yes I think I can.

And until we live in a meritocracy I'll feel the same.

I suspect this a fantastic method to be able to erase the attainment gap between FSM and the 'rest' of the school population, and thus enable the additional funding to be removed.

[Agincourt]

Look at all these food banks too. It makes me so sad to think that even have to exist when as a nation we are rich. People are certainly rich enough where I live to compensate for these children to get a warm dinner every school day

[BonnieBumble]

I find this shocking. I'm sure I read a report recently that recommended making free school meals a universal benefit for all children.

The problem is we can all be shocked and outraged on MN but the average man in the street doesn't care. We have become a very selfish society.

[Agincourt]

On our local news it showed these mobile soup kitchen places in Peterborough too and that makes me sad as well

[StealthPolarBear]

Maya now THAT is a likely possibility

[ShirtyKnot]

Why should taxpayers pay for this? I don't want to pay for it

There are many things I don't want to pay for with my tax. Ensuring poor children get at least one hot meal a day isn't something I begrudge.

You have to wonder how wedded to money you have become when this seems like a good idea.

[asuwere]

These people will still qualify though if they aren't working enough hours for WTC and are on less than £7500 or am I missing something!?

Not if their partner earns £7501

Well surely if their partner earns that plus what they earn, then they'll still probably qualify for WTC and will have a higher income so their children still won't be starving in the street.

All these children that are starving and are going to suffer - how do they survive the school holidays?!

[JosephineCD]

It's all very well saying "raise taxes" but what happens next time? Raise taxes again? Sooner or later people have to look at themselves and take responsibility for their own children.

[theDevilHasTheBestMNNames]

asuwere
it's up to these parents to earn enough to pay for their children.

Poor nutrition has life long implications for DC - and I think there is some evidence that it can affect GC as well. Anything that adversely impact on education also has life long affects and affect not just those individuals but if enough people are affect an entire economy.

It also affect health - which as we currently have the NHS also means increased costs for everyone.

Possibly there are better ways of providing cheap nutritious food to poorer families but currently one of the major ways is these school meals.

[Agincourt]

You have to wonder how wedded to money you have become when this seems like a good idea.

Quite

[Voidka]

SEN is Special Educational Needs asuwere

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

what sort of heartless piece of shit do you have to be to begrudge free dinners?

We feed them to the fucking queen every day of her pampered life ffs!

[theDevilHasTheBestMNNames]

asuwere
All these children that are starving and are going to suffer - how do they survive the school holidays?!

Seem to remember that one reason presented to shorten the long summer holiday was these DC -because they do go hungry.

[Birdsgottafly]

I don't think that older generations realise how expensive it is to send children to school anymore, what with the whole uniform needing to be a certain type and regular donations etc asked for.

In the more disadvantaged areas uniform policies were not upheld/or in exsistence like they are now, because it was recognised that the cost was outside of many families reach.

A child's weekly bus pass in my area has just risen to £13 a week, the minium that you could spend is £10.

[Agincourt]

I know birdsgottofly, mine went back to school this week and I have had several letters all at once asking for money to be paid for next week for x/y and z and it adds up to about £60!

[HateBeingCantDoUpMyJeans]

School meals should be free for all

[minimathsmouse]

OP, glad you thought to put this here, found it in politics.

I wonder if the government have set the threshold so low because as with working tax credit it will mean virtually no one will be able to claim.

[StealthPolarBear]

Josephine, if were using slippery slope arguments, then what about the other way round? If we allow this, what next? Scrap fsm altogether. No free healthcare for the over 65s. No treatment for smokers. No free education. After all, savings must be made.

[ellenjames]

This is shocking! Our kids dont have hot school meals as too expensive they are £2.60 at our school!!! Plus we have 2 in school with another going in in 2013 so 3 dcs in the same school would bankrupt us!

[thirdhill]

I can't help thinking that there's less and less to lose for more and more people.

Social cohesion when it starts to crumble can blow your life and livelihood apart. So when those who cannot see how important it is to recognize children in poverty, [however they get to that place and whoever got them there] when they go there themselves [which of course they think they won't because they're really in good control of their lives and their health and traffic when crossing the road etc etc] they should be grateful they're not burdening the rest of us and our lives.

Perhaps the Goveenment feels it has nothing to lose, too? There's a "suicide attack" feel to this. Is the idea that once done, the impact will endure even if they leave office? Or am I overthinking it?

[asuwere]

In that case, Voidka. What happens to children with SEN who are at a school where majority of parents work full time and therefore don't qualify for FSM? Is that the governments fault also?

On the point about poor nutrition having long term implications - I don't think FSM are the answer to that issue. Having a meal at school does not change the behaviours at home. Education needs to be changed there which is much bigger. And even if a meal is classed as nutritious, it doesn't stop the child leaving the fruit/veg. As seen by Jamie Oliver, many children still get a school meal which consists of chips and sauce!

[Birdsgottafly]

All these children that are starving and are going to suffer - how do they survive the school holidays?!

As someone who works with vulnerable families, working and none working, i can safely say that they go without.

Even to the point that they do not clean as much as they would like to because washing etc costs money.

I grew up in a 'disadvantaged area' and live in one now,but i was still shocked at the conditions that some people live in and it is usually through a few unlucky life events, disability, DV, redundancy etc, not bad planning.

[BonnieBumble]

I didn't think that there would be one person on MN that would think this proposal a good idea.

It appears that I was wrong. It makes me really sad. One thing that this recession has taught me is that on the whole people in this country are selfish and judgemental. I can't imagine that we will ever have a left of centre government again because it appears that everyone is a Tory at heart. I have no optimism at all.