AIBU - free school meals application against my wishes.

[GlitterSand]

Two years ago I became eligible to claim free school meals,
I do not need the assistance so declined the offer.
The local council sent me a silly amount of letters about being entitled to claim, I phoned them and asked them to stop, explained that I didn't need to claim and asked them to make a note on my 'file' not to contact me again.
However, within a few months it started again I ignored them until I received a letter that basically said 'you are entitled to claim this so we are going to put in a claim on your behalf'
This annoyed me and I sent them a letter telling them that I do not give them permission to ever make a claim for FSMs on my behalf, that I wanted it marked on my file that I never want a claim for FSMs to be made in my name.
Someone from the council called me and apologised he said he made a note on my file and I would not be contacted again.

My DC has just started secondary school and for the second day in a row, his student account was not charged for the meal he had.
I just called the school and they have told me that his account has not been charged because he is in receipt of FSM, I told her this is a mistake and she is going to look into it and call me back.

I'm currently on hold to the council.

I'm so angry, how dare they put in a claim without my knowledge or permission and against my explicit request not to.
AIBU to be so annoyed?

I'm just posting to vent really, to try to calm down before I speak to anyone, but I'm just so angry that they can go against my wishes and put in a claim for a benefit that I do not want.

Largely, I suspect because for many people maintenance is not a regular income. Given the scale of the system, it might not be cost effective for the DWP to keep having to recalculate benefits every time there’s a change in circumstances or people decide to withhold maintenance.

Rafals
Could it not be based on catchment figures rather than individual parent details? So if your catchment is 30% disadvantaged area, you get that in extra funding?

No, because the intake of a school doesn’t necessarily reflect the catchment in which they are.

It would need some huge changes to the admissions process. You’d need to get rid of grammar and faith schools for a start and possibly the sibling link.

Oh ffs. Don't complain when your kids school is struggling to buy paper. You are doing them out of the funding they are entitled to in order to properly support your child

Can all the critical posters please donate 920 quid a year to their childrens schools. Given thats what you expect from op.

OneTime, manifestly critical posters don't expect that. They suggest that it's daft to refuse something to which her child is entitled and which will benefit both his school and her child. They don't suggest she donates it personally.

Elkie why should govenors, who are basically nosy parents, be given access to FSM eligibility?

Parent governors are a minority on any board of governors, and no governor gets given the names of pupils on FSM. There is no reason why they would need them.

Actually by this premise FSM parents should actively avoid work as theyd be letting the school down.

Not so. Schools get Pupil Premium for any pupil who has been registered for FSM within the last six years. Therefore all FSM parents could go back to work tomorrow, the school will stlll receive pupil premiums in respect of their children.

Op states her child is not disadvantaged, i.e. academically able and included fully in the school curriculum. Ergo, the funding will benefit other children, but not hers.

The school would still have to include her child in the FSM statistics when reporting on how pupil premium has been used, and would be expected to demonstrate that all pupils within those stats has benefited from it. Therefore he would benefit from it.

You keep making stonking mistakes about how the system works, OneTime. Maybe time to inform yourself before making more?

Thank you Gersemi and several other who have tried to explain sensibly how some of the systems work.

Someone posted that FSM is now called Pupil Premium. Not exactly. They are separate things but a lot of PP funding is based on eligibiltiy for FSM. Pupil premium is funding paid to a school in respect of several groups of children many of whom are seen as more likely to face disadvantage, which must be used to address potential disadvantage and close the attainment gap. Free school meals entitlement is taken by the government to be an indicator of poverty and is therefore the basis for PP to be paid in respect of poor children. Pupil Premium is paid in respect of any child who has been shown to be entitled to FSM in the last 6 years (this is known as Ever6). There must be paperwork and records showing this. There are also other groups of children who attract pupil premium. Some Looked After Children may have been adopted, but many are still in care, including foster care.

I hadn't realised that in many cases maintenance payments don't affect benefit entitlement and on that, should you be reading OP, and I apologise that I didn't understand some of your posts properly because of this. When I was quite young and before I had my own kids, the Conservative government in the 1990s introduced legislation requiring single parents on means tested benefits such as income support to claim maintenance. Maintenance payments were not only taken off their benefits; they were threatened with losing benefits even if the maintenance wasn't paid. There was also concern about single mums who had good reason not to want to be forced into claiming maintenance, mostly for domestic violence and/or abuse related reasons. I am very pleased to learn that this has completely changed, and while I still don't agree with everything you said, OP, I apologise for not fully understanding your arguments because of my ignorance of current rules on this.

If schools are really dragging pupils out of class for inappropriate interventions just because they get PP they are totally misapplying it. PP funded support should be related to what the needs are. And targeted interventions such as separate small groups can be more sensitively handled. My experience of my kids' school probably differs from most posters because for most of the time I've known it more kids than not have been Pupil Premium, though many now don't get free school meals because of the working tax credit.

As for governors, there are 13 governors on my school governing body (which is larger than some) and I think we have 4 parent-governors, and we have had a parent occupying a governor role in another capacity, but no more than 5 parents at once. Information about pupils is provided without names. We can't be on a governor panel making a decision about a child in the same year as our own (this would be an exclusion panel or an appeal). I fully admit I'm nosy but I am very conscious of the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest, I don't know the names of pupils referred to and pupil premium information is very dry statistical data which in a high PP school just isn't identifying.

For those who have pointed out anomalies eg children who are poor/need more support who don't get Pupil Premium, this can be the case, sadly. A lot of those anomalies relate to government policy decisions and cuts in benefit entitements, including saying Working Tax Credit claimants (mostly on a very low income) can't get FSM for their kids. Also low income thresholds and low pay for jobs mean that there are also children who face disadvantage but there is currently very little funding to address that.

My answer would include better funding for education and planned spending to ensure all children's needs are met, and without the stigma some parents and children are still made to feel. and much else beside.

Op - no form should have been submitted without your permission. They obviously needed your permission hence the numerous letters sent to you.

Submit a data request to the council. The gov website says you have the right to know:

Individuals have the right to know:

what information is being used
why it’s being used
where it came from
who can see the information

It is not acceptable for your data to be used without your permission whether that is by a retail company or a council. You data has also possibly been passed onto the school for the dinner card to be topped up.

The government are very aware that 200000 do not claim FSM. So not claiming is not uncommon.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219619/DFE-RB235.pdf

They are also aware what ‘types’ of people don’t claim it. So maybe the government need to make changes to the system. Especially as the report shows only 2% do not claim in the north east yet 25% don’t in the south east.

What a stupid, snobby attitude OP, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
It has been explained to you over and over that the school will benefit. Not claiming is selfish.
Use the money for music lessons / sport/ books/ crafts/ days out or whatever for your child. If he already has everything, donate it to charity if you want. Just don't be selfish.

What a shame - this is OP’s onlynthread. I was looking forward to reading her other offerings

Op - no form should have been submitted without your permission. They obviously needed your permission hence the numerous letters sent to you

Forms aren’t completed anymore all the council or school need is NI number DOB and address which they would have. it’s all done on line automatically.

Is that true, you can actually claim a benefit on someone else’s behalf?

Is that true, you can actually claim a benefit on someone else’s behalf?

No. It's absolute bollocks.

Unless it's welfare rights or similar who you have given written permission to act on your behalf to. Which clearly isn't the case here.

FSM aren't a benefit. They are an add on if you already have the benefit. The school haven't claimed the benefit, they've processed the add on without op's consent.
Thus, the only way for schools to not know if you are on benefits, is not to be on benefits.
I wonder what people's views are on the NHS knowing your source of income?

If you claim HB here the council automatically award FSM and uniform grant.

Complaining about a free meal and pupil premium. What madness!
I applied at the end of term for it for my ds and found out school don't know where it is and have no idea whether he's entitled or not. Not a great start to the beginning of term.
Had to phone council myself to try and fix the issue to be told nothing for my son is there and to speak to the school, went back to school and complained as we had to give special sensitive documents to them which they seem to have mislaid and have had to reapply, 3 days in still no clue what's happening and put him on packed lunches. Probably never will know unless spend loads of time chasing it up with the council and the school for a month if lucky.
Sometimes it's a case of sucking it up and getting on with things.

Eligible for money for something that will benefit your child and not wanting to claim - fair enough.

Taking money from a designated pot for something that will benefit everyone else and not wanting to claim - words fail me!

I am staggered by the selfish views on here.
And whoever it was who said other people's children weren't a concern...oh dear. Thank fuck not everyone thinks like you do.

Like i said concrete-feel free to claim fsm and then you can do the greater good yourself.

Why do people keep saying that a child in top sets shouldn't benefit from pupil premium? Pupil premium is to help address the disadvantage of being from a lower income household. A child who is doing relatively well might be just as disadvantaged as one who is doing relatively poorly and there may be some very helpful intervention that could help that child reach their true (very high) potential.

My dd is in top sets and receives FSM’s

I odd thing to suggest that kids in tops sets don’t need them

It’s the extra tuition they’re talking about, lovemusic, not the school dinners.

Ahhh, ok, got confused as I didn’t read back far enough.

Onetimeposter - Like i said concrete-feel free to claim fsm and then you can do the greater good yourself.

And like I said, thank fuck not everyone thinks like you.

If a child who qualifies for pupil premium is meeting age-related expectations and making good progress, they wouldn’t be taken out of lessons for unnecessary interventions. It’s more likely that the school would use the money to fund things like educational visits, music lessons, residentials etc that the parents might not otherwise afford.

Schools must demonstrate how PP funding is used effectively, so for children who do need extra support PP funding is very helpful.

That is what supposed to happen with PP funding. Sadly at my son's primary school it was a very different story. They refused to provide the help he really did need ( more social and emotional support to help with issues linked to him being adopted - ) and sent him off to do extra lessons with the senco even though he was one of the highest achievers in the school. Box ticking as I said earlier.

And as my son left the school with fantastic SATs results I'm sure the headmistress gave her self a massive pat on the back. Never mind the fact that I've spent the year listening to my DS tell me he wants to die and sending him to a counsellor.