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.

you tell that to families who are struggling but will be delighted to know that meal vouchers are spent on wines and scratch card. Priorities hey

What difference would it make to someone who's struggling if AN Other spent it on wine, gruel or rocking horse poo?

In England only those on the qualifying benefits get the vouchers.

Not everyone in Reception class, Year 1 or Year 2 like the universal FSM system in place at the moment.

This is additional funding of £15 for the week that has been arranged for the CV. It doesn't come from the schools budget.

if you need vouchers for food then you shouldn’t be buying alcohol

I get vouchers because my child falls under universal provision because he’s in P2 (Scotland) and our local authority has saved themselves the utter ball-ache of means testing. I don’t need vouchers to feed my child, I cash the voucher at our local shop and have bought wine and sweets because I have a house full of food bought more reasonably at the local supermarket (who don’t cash the voucher)

So if you worked in that shop you’d see me cashing the voucher and buying wine. You wouldn’t see the nutritious meals my children are fortunate to have nor would you see me donating goods to the value of the voucher to the local food bank for families who actually do need the money. Your mum tells you about isolates transactions and you think you know the whole story.

Exactly jellycats. God forbid someone from treating themself when they had probably already got all their shopping in before the voucher came in. Or do you actually believe these children aren't getting fed? In that case you should be onto social services and not repeating hear say on mumsnet

‘Treating yourself’ pay for it yourself or how about you get your child an exercise book??

Sorry but utterly shame on you

I got these vouchers. I'd already done my weekly shop. Had plenty of food in.

Gave posted to my mother who has lost her job, had a marriage breakdown and lost her mother.

All in 4 weeks.

She bought herself a large bottle of rum with it.

And I don't feel bad at all.

Or treat your child, or buy them new pens or a book. You got them because of your children.

Treating yourself’ pay for it yourself or how about you get your child an exercise book??

Sorry but utterly shame on you

Another one who can’t do simple math.

They have paid for it themself.

From Aldi? They don't do stuff like that there.

My kids don't need anything they sold.

Maybe a spanner set or a new set of car mats?

Govt pays £15 per week to schools for FSM

Schools shut so govt pay £15 direct to parents to buy those 5 midday meals.

Except it came too late for some parents who have already purchased the lunch food.

Govt £15 replaces the £15 parent has already paid for lunch food. So the voucher is the parents money to spend as they please.

Well, according to that photo a pp posted, vouchers cannot be used for alcohol, fags, fuel etc
It only pains me as my son in year 2 gets the free school meals everyone gets but obvs no longer and I, like many, could do with any extra help. Not sure whether to reapply actually, I think I am eligible for UC now but was furloughed and not sure of what happens with that yet.

@Bringonspring I’m going to buy your child some shoes. I’ll give you the money next Friday. Your child needs the shoes tomorrow so you buy them out of your own money. They cost £40. I give you £40 next Friday. Who owns the £40 in your purse next friday?

My childen have plenty of books, pens, paper etc thank you very much. The point is the post here makes it out like the parents bought alcohol instead of feeding their children. But you have no idea what food they already had in for their children or what they were buying the alcohol for.

I certainly think that there's a discussion to be had about this. Personally, I don't object to some people spending the vouchers on treats or luxuries per se (from the common 'you're frittering away taxpayers' money' pov - I'm not the treat police) but my concern is IF children are going without the food they need, even when the parents have been specifically provided with the means to buy it, which does seem to happen in some cases.

I'm sure the majority of parents who receive these vouchers will appreciate and use the value of them in their overall provision for the children, regardless of which particular goods and in which particular shops they exchange them for. We don't hypothecate child benefit specifically for our DS's personal requirements, but it's a very valued part of our total family income, from which we provide him with everything that he needs (and some things that he wants, as well).

I've seen it reported (from official/reputable sources) that there's evidence-backed concern that a significant minority of less privileged families don't just rely on financial help towards providing meals for their children, but that, unless cooked/prepared food is actually handed over to them (whether at school during normal times or delivered to them during CV lockdown), their children will go hungry.

I also see frequent reports of children relying on FSM (in normal times) for their only hot meal of the day. Is this accurate? Do plenty of households really not have access to an oven/hob/microwave (or the funds to run them - surely not a lot for the latter two?) and do the adults of the family only ever have cold food? I'm genuinely interested to know. It sounds like a lot of very valued help is getting through to those who need it, but also that a proportion of parents are neglectful, even when money is not an issue. Of course, this is also the case with some well-off parents as well.

I also don't understand what I've read recently about some children still being allowed to go to school during these current circumstances, even though they have one or both parents at home and not working, because it's officially adjudged that they will be 'safer at school than at home'. Not just non-NT kids who won't cope without the routine but actually specified as 'safer', with the clear implication that their parent(s) pose a danger to them. How can this be? I really don't get it. If a child's home environment is not safe for them during normal school hours, how can they be safe outside of school hours and at the weekends and in school holidays?

We still haven’t had the vouchers despite mine getting fsm and having 3 at school. Where as some have had them for a few weeks now

I get FSM for my dd who is in year 4. We received texts from her school explaining what the process would be and then the text came from the company issuing the voucher which offered us a choice of Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrison’s.
Value is £32.10 a fortnight and the voucher states that it cannot be used at the kiosk for cigs, lottery etc but doesn’t mention alcohol.

I don’t drink normally as I have 3 day hangovers so I had no intention of using it for alcohol and even if I did drink I don’t think I would use one or these vouchers to buy it. They are intended to help with food costs and mine was spent as part of a bigger shop.

Also I’ve found that lots of people don’t actually know they’re going entitles to them ( mainly those with children in R-Y2 )

Some children have no recourse to public funds. They fall well below the benefits minimum. There is no heat in the house. They don't qualify for FSMs even though they may be managing on £40 a week. They get a breakfast, lunch and food package and fruit and milk to take home. They are better off in school because they can access food. Internet, books, warmth and aren't drawn into poor choices and can be among positive role models. There may be younger siblings under schools age that you can ensure get food and clothes. It is not unusual for schools to literally furnish children's houses through donations and grants. These children are vulnerable and are not included in official figures. They are not at risk from their parents, they are at risk of not flourishing and having limited access to enrichment. There are also children at risk that have not met the high SS threshold yet but will do. There are children whose older siblings are in gangs and who will be drawn in. You always have a amount of CIN , CP but there are those you track below this.

Unfortunately an acquaintance has a similar approach to the parents in your dd's school. She regularly gets expensive beauty treatments done but runs out of money for food and bills. She then gets bail outs from family which she then spends on treats instead of feeding her child. It's really sad.

I get vouchers because my child falls under universal provision because he’s in P2 (Scotland) and our local authority has saved themselves the utter ball-ache of means testing. I don’t need vouchers to feed my child, I cash the voucher at our local shop and have bought wine and sweets because I have a house full of food bought more reasonably at the local supermarket

I'm in Scotland too, with kids in P1-P3. Surely you need to opt in for this sorry but why the fuck would anyone who didn't need this to feed their children claim it?

You actually claimed the vouchers and then cashed them in to buy wine?

This is possibly one of the most entitled posts I've seen.

I completely understand the argument about people who are actually entitled to them using them for extra treats - but where it's universal in Scotland I fucking hope to god that the people spending them are actually in need of them.

Not just using them to buy wine and sweets.

"Because I have a house full of food"

You make it sound like you're entitled to reward yourself for already having the means to actually feed your own children. Have a medal 🏅

Why are your children at the same school if they are 7 and 12? Seems unlikely she would even know the parents of the secondary aged child's friends.

And much as I don't think anyone should buy cigarettes or (much) alcohol, YABU for deciding what poorer families are allowed to spend it on if the vouchers don't actually specify.

Funny that, I'm sure they can't be used on cigarettes/alcohol/anything but food.

Doesn't really fit in with your narrative though does it?

The vouchers haven’t started for us yet, I got an email from the school saying they’re attempting to sort for after the holidays.

Mine will be going on food! I don’t judge others for what they buy though it’s none of my business, all I know is I’m struggling for money big time and I have three kids to feed. It’s been a struggle these last few weeks I won’t lie. I’m very grateful for the vouchers.

It shouldn't be a surprise to you to be honest. There are plenty of parents out there who will always put their own needs before their children. It is sad but true.

As other posters have said some people may already have plenty of food in and so use it towards something other than food. The vouchers should have restrictions on them if intended to replace school meals but everything happened quickly so this might have been difficult to organise.

@PumpkinP I am sure I have seen you on other threads. Isn’t your school providing meals instead? Have you contacted them yet to see if you can get the meals delivered to you? That is what our local schools are doing.

@Tadgh do fuck off entitlement to the voucher scheme and how/whether this is paid is entirely dependent on how your local authority decides to run the scheme. Mine automatically sends vouchers to all parents with children in P1-3 regardless. They didn’t want to means test in the way other authorities have and the way the funding works its better for the local authority if they are cashed in reasonably quickly rather than sitting and the local authority not knowing whether parents are going to cash them in or not (because they can continue to draw down funds from the government contingency fund once cashed).

I don’t need a medal, thanks for the offer. It’s my job to feed my kids and I do that well. As I said in my original post, the value of the voucher was donated to a local food bank or did you miss that bit in your rush to judgement.