Re: free school meal vouchers

[Hadenoughofitall441]

My mum works in a local supermarket, she told me today that at least 6 of the kids parents from dd 7 and DS 12 school came in to use them but spent them on alcohol. Now let me know if I’m being unreasonable but I find this totally out of order. She said it’s been happening last week aswell.
She said the cards have the kids names on so she knew what they were. She too is disgusted by this but obviously can’t say anything because it’s at work. One of the other customers said he thought it was wrong too.

I think I did answer.

Nope. You didn’t.

Here it is again for you

Are people seriously saying that until I have stopped receiving that £54 a fortnight I can’t buy myself a single treat?

No, but nice try. Maybe try answering a question for once.

What question do you want me to answer

Tadgh

Ever had child benefit?

Are people seriously saying that until I have stopped receiving that £54 a fortnight I can’t buy myself a single treat?

A single treat? Crack on!

£54 worth of treats for yourself every fortnight?

No.

Not when you apparently can't afford to feed and clothe your own children 🤷🏻‍♀️

A single treat? Crack on!

But you said I can’t buy myself some chocolate or a book? what treat am I allowed to buy?

Who said £54 worth of treats? you need to work on your reading comprehension.

I work in a supermarket and the vouchers are standard ones used by members of the public whi can buy or gift their own, buisness who give them to clients or colleagues as gifts or employee benefits. There is nothing on them to state why the person has them. They cannot be used for lottery ,cigarettes or petrol, that is standard for all of them. But other than that their is no restrictions and nothing to say it is for fsm so the cashier would never know. This is for a limited time obviously whilst schools are closed, so its not as if parents are routinely abusing the fsm system.
Healthy start vouchers are for milk, fruit and veg and certainly in our stores do not work for anything else.

If you are spending the money sent to you to replace the free school meal provided to your child on yourself then you are one selfish, scummy, entitled individual and a poor parent to boot.

Even if you have actually bought the food to feed your child that they would otherwise eat in school?

Ever had child benefit

Yes. Most people do.

If you're going to compare that to FMS vouchers and turn it around on me then save your fingers.

I guarantee I spend more than £34 a week on my two children.

The FSM vouchers are intended to benefit the children. If you have £15 extra coming into your household every week then you should be spending £15 extra on your children.

Not on books / tops / wine / sweets / treats for you.

But if you can afford the food and then spend the voucher on whether you obviously don't need the full amount. This isn't benefits bashing, it seems unjust that some people have to choose between utilitiies and food, and others have surplus. It should be more fairly distributed imo. But whatever, who really cares, people will do what they want won't they.

By the way I am not saying everyone who gets them, that would be ridiculous; they are a lifeline for many and such an important scheme. But those going on about buying wine and enjoying the dirty looks, pretty pathetic.

I can't begrudge that to anyone
I received a food parcel last week from the food bank. Can I afford food? Yes. Can I get food? No. That's why I received it. So if I went online and spent my food shop money on something frivolous that's the same really
Like all of us who are shielding and receiving government boxes (I didn't get one hence the food bank one)

The FSM vouchers are intended to benefit the children

And child benefit is for what, buying stamps? the clue is in the name! Child benefit is to benefit the children. If you need to claim that then you certainly shouldn’t be buying yourself anything because you clearly can’t afford it. If you can afford it then stop claiming the child benefit. You don’t need it. Donate it to people worse off than you.

If you have £15 extra coming into your household every week then you should be spending £15 extra on your children.

If you have £34 extra coming into your household every week then you should be spending £34 extra on your children.

But if you can afford the food and then spend the voucher on whether you obviously don't need the full amount.

Whether?

Lots of people won’t spend the full amount on food for their DC. It will be more than lunches cost. There will be surplus. Are you saying people should send the surplus back to the local authority? Or must donate to a food bank? (Fine if that’s what they want)

This isn't benefits bashing, it seems unjust that some people have to choose between utilitiies and food, and others have surplus.

Do you think that is a situation exclusive to those in receipt of FSM? It really isn’t. Lots of people have more money than they know what to do with, and not all gained through their own labour. Do you berate them all in the same way for buying themselves a treat? Or do you reserve that just for those in receipt of FSM?

This is what I wrote earlier which someone has thought merits being deleted within 10 minutes as it’s obviously going to hurt someone’s feelings...

’If you are spending the money sent to you to replace the free school meal provided to your child on yourself then you are one selfish, scummy, entitled individual and a poor parent to boot.’

Someone explain to me why this is so offensive it’s been deleted in less than 10 minutes? I am sick to death of this country caring more about the ‘rights’ of feckless adults than vulnerable children and this website is the absolute WORST for it.

Magic

In response to your post

Even if you have actually bought the food to feed your child that they would otherwise eat in school?

Tadgh

What treat is it ok for me to buy?

The problem is how do you decide who needs more money and who less. Some people will have more overall income due to higher amounts of maintenance, some people will have to pay higher amounts of rent, some people will have a mortgage but lost their job and be struggling to cover everything. Universal credit works on a basic amount, it doesn't take into account how good at budgeting or even cooking you are, how energy efficient your home is. All these things affect how much spare money there is in your budget each month. What some people on here want is to penalise those who are better at prioritising money and can budget to have some spare and stop them getting any treats because they put the children's needs first however if a person put themselves first and bought alcohol with their benefit money then they are ok to have these vouchers and buy food with them.

What gets me is that they are just a supermarket voucher, so actually judgey aupermarket person has no way of knowing if someone is spending a £20 voucher from FSM or a £20 voucher from their employer which is designed specifically as a treat.

And yes if you’ve already bought the food they need then save them in a drawer for something else the child may need next week, next month, the month after that. Don’t go and use it as free rein to be short sighted and spend it on shit for yourself. If you don’t need to get them out of that drawer at any point for something your child needs then I really do question why you need them in the first place.

"magicfarawaytrees" is the parent still scummy if they bought the food prior to getting the voucher so have prioritised the child eating before anything else?

I’ve answered you above.

Wow, I really don’t appreciate being referred to as a beggar when I haven’t ever taken up FSM. Schools ask you, if low income, to declare it so they get extra funding. They automatically sent out vouchers even though I had asked them not to. I feed and clothe my own children.

If you’re so furious about the way it’s being dealt with, petition against it. Your beef should be with the government, not parents who already have enough to deal with. Unpopular petition? Maybe, but maybe that tells you exactly how mean a concept it is.

It’s worth bearing in mind that we’re also currently paying out more in utilities, paper / printer cartridges, study materials. I know I certainly am, whilst my (low) income has decreased even more whilst furloughed and I doubt I’m alone.

There will ALWAYS be people who abuse the system and buy booze and fags over feeding their kids, there has been since time immemorial - indeed, that’s where the original child allowance fulfilled a need. We should hope that these families are closely monitored by the relevant services.

It doesn’t mean that everybody who is entitled to FSM by governmental guidance is a ‘beggar’. If we didn’t apply for it, schools would lose funding - something to raise with the government, not parents who are, on the whole, doing their best during a difficult time.

I honestly can’t believe how people are trying to justify doing this. It’s actually disgusting.

Interesting how the thread started by people responded thinking the OP was a troll it seemed that outlandish that people could consider doing this. Then the apologists cams out in droves.

Sorry I may have missed this information. In our area, the LEA is provided a packed lunch to be picked up everyday from a local school. I am not able to get it for my 4 Yr old as I'd have to take her and my 1 Yr old DS with me to get it. The risk outweighs the benefit. So is this voucher thing a new change or is it specific to certain areas

magicfarawaytrees ok magic lets try a different scenario, say I need new clothes and have been saving up for them £3 a week for 5 weeks then due to the school closure I need to spend that £15 on food for my child's lunches before the voucher arrives. Would it then be ok to spend the £15 I've saved for clothes on food then the voucher on the clothes? If not why not? Should I have starved my child for the couple of days it took for the voucher to arrive so I could get the clothes I need and had already saved up for?