Tories going to axe free school meals

[cannotbelievethistoday]

So I have 2 children in private school.

Labour want to put VAT on private school fees, and extend free school meals to all primary children.

Tories are going to remove infant free school meals.

Bloody hell. And still people will vote Tory.

(My 2 kids are in private school - I totally agree with labour on this one)

Which is why I said upthread it would be better to extend fsm to the working poor and knock this ridiculous breakfast scheme on the head

Yep

If the assembly hall is also the canteen the breakfast idea will also be a PITA too

Why this? Never anything about Mr Bankerman and Mr Playboy. Mr Offshore.These people who make off with the pension fund to the Mediterranean and their yachts. Never them.

Always children and the aged and the disabled with the Tories.

I think its good. I know a dinner lady who says the waste of food at our school because of kids not liking/eating it is absolutely shocking. To think that money could be used elsewhere.
Free meals for those who need it but the rest of us should pay IMHO.

But a lot of children who do not qualify for Free School Meals were going hungry, and a universal system means everyone gets the meal and can be cheaper overall to administer (and no stigmatisation).

If there is a lot of food waste then the schools and luc=nch staff need to work together to reduce this. In my DC's school they did "tasting" sessions in class and came up with interesting menus etc. And there is little food wasted.

If children are going hungry then free food is just a sticky plaster, it doesn't solve the issue. Surely if we are thinking of the children it's bette spent on more social workers who can get involved with all these families failing to provide basic care.

Why are there no threads about wasting money on Trident or Brexit? Because apparently these are soooo important. They also cost a fricking fortune. Why not give the money to schools instead?
Imo many people have skewed priorities.

more social workers who can get involved with all these families failing to provide basic care

This is the great Tory paradox. They speak of freedom. But in the end create more controlling bureaucracy.

Aldo horrified by some of the attitudes on here...
If you cant afford to feed kids dont have them. Helpful.
Hunter gatherer/ sink or swim.nice.
typical Tory thinking.

horrified by some of the attitudes on here...

Agreed. Workhouses get started this way.

School dinners are a throw back to the 60s when most mums stayed at home and prepared a hot meal every lunch time (and dinner time).

People don't eat like that any more. Most people have sandwiches or similar - either bought or made at home.

I make up lunch packs for DS, DH and myself daily. It's quite simple. Good food and inexpensive. It's not too difficult.

School meals have always been rubbish IMO. I remember as a child being so grateful that I could go home for lunch. The canteen food was full of just the food I would never have eaten - fatty cheap meat and overcooked mushy vegetables.

It is a complete waste of money to pay for free school meals for all children. All children who are from families in financial hardship wil STILL GET free school meals. But those who can afford pay for their children's lunch - will do so.
Totally sensible.
OR
You could have looney Corbyn's approach and give free school lunches to the middle classes who have bought property next to outstandong state schools even though they don't need it!
Two of my DC arre at private schools - both on Bursary's, this anti prosperity tax of Corbyns will damage private school income - and who will suffer? Bursary children whose parents cannot buy a property in Hampstead or Notting Hill to get next to an outstanding state school.
Under the Tory manifesto if you can affoed to pay - you will pay, and if you can't afford to - then you will still get fsm. Sensible.

typical Tory thinking.

So you are with a policy and you are a Tory. Righto.

Many in here have said hey don't vote Tory but do agree with this.

Calling people 'Tory' for doing so is just lazy thinking.

All children who are from families in financial hardship wil STILL GET free school meals

It is the 'All' here that is wrong. Some will not, because their family is not in 'quite enough' hardship according to the criteria (a family combined income of £16,500 is not enough to lift a family out of hardship). Some will not because the process of application is an insurmountable barrier for a wide range of reasons - from illiteracy through lack of English to chaotic lifestyles.

Some schools who are used to these problems do their best to counteract this - devoting school funds or their own to buying basic foodstuffs; actively filling in forms with / for families they believe qualify but cannot overcome the barrier of the application form - but children can and do slip through this safety net, especially in schools less attuned to the issues.

No, 38cody, under the Tory manifesto ALL children will get free breakfasts for 7 years, and schools and the government will pay.

Well as Scrooge said... "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses... bah humbug! " attitudes havnt changed much since Dickenses time.

I think that the Tories have done an excellent job of perpetuating the scarcity myth. Money is acarce vecause of benefit svroungers according to them. Nowt to do with the fat cats on top then.

Fwiw school meals should be means tested but only if the soare cash goes towards teaching and equipment. But it is an excuse to give schools even less imo while the palace and trident get more.

I think the parents who will not be able to afford private schools are not the bursary families, but those like ours, middle earners who don't earn so little that we are eligible for bursaries.

You will end up with very, very rich and not well of at all. The ones in the middle will leave.

Calling people 'Tory' for doing so is just lazy thinking.

I am not here to joust with you pigglet. We're here to get to the truth.

So I will pose this:

What does it say about a group, a group of well-off people mind, who chooses to use their power to always target the poor, the old, children, the disabled?

Never, ever the banker. Never the Playboy who raids the pension fund. Not the ones who got us in this mess. Always those weaker and more vulnerable. Without a voice.

Do you want to be o e of these sorts?

Are you very young, make?

It is a complete waste of money to pay for free school meals for all children. All children who are from families in financial hardship wil STILL GET free school meals

No they won't. Any family in receipt of working tax credit (many of the working poor) is not eligible for free school meals.

Here's my manifesto: scrap universal fsm. Extend hardship related fsm to more of the working poor. Scrap this ridiculous breakfast scheme. Any leftover cash will be put back into education.

Glitter, I agree.

The only thing i would add is that I think the identification of those in need should be done by using existing information - Inland revenue, benefits - to eliminate those who DON'T qualify, thus removing the hurdle of application from those most in need.

Make

Read the manifesto. There is stuff in there to prevent another Maxwell situation. There is a lot in there about workers rights, about improving business regulation (e.g. To prevent Cadbury like factory closures on acquisition), and also support for R and D and technology development. About reforming vocational training and supporting apprenticeships.

Everything has to be looked at through the lens of Brexit - having a stable business environment is key to keeping the economy going.

I am going to yell

WHY IS HARDLY ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THE COSTINGS OF BREAKFAST

They are exchanging one fairly logical and already in place meal with another that may work our cheaper for food but is potentially going to be expensive to implement

Can Anyone here who has said 'yay get rid of unmeans tested lunches' stand up for the new policy

Here's my manifesto: scrap universal fsm. Extend hardship related fsm to more of the working poor. Scrap this ridiculous breakfast scheme. Any leftover cash will be put back into education.

I agree GlitterGlue.

Why don't you email Theresa May & suggest this?

I'm not being facetious btw, I'm going to start emailing her whenever I have a better idea about how to look at things differently.

I think we expect that 'surely somebody in the policy think tanks will have suggested this' but I'm starting to think there's not enough lateral thinking going on and ideas haven't actually been finessed as much as they could be.

Removing FSM in itself isn't hugely controversial and while for me, it's helpful, I can manage without it (I'm aware that this isn't the case for everyone!)
The thing is; like other Tory policies, they're not telling us where that saving will go. I notice lots of you that approve of this removal are making the assumption that the savings will (or should) be channelled into resources that are desperately needed. It's unlikely to be the case, so then you have schools that are charging for meals and still not getting the funding for resources so it's a double whammy and no-one is gaining anything. Least of all 'the taxpayer'.

In principle, the arguments for means testing WFA and FSM etc are sensible, as are many of the policies when looked at in isolation. What surprises me is that no-one seems to be looking at the bigger picture here.

Conservatives are saying that removal of these extra benefits to society is necessary to balance the books while simultaneously giving multi million pound companies and the wealthier section of society tax breaks that amount to extra income. How, in anyone's logic can that be practical?? Either we don't have the money or we do- it's blatant redistribution from the bottom to the top. And THAT is what is shameful.