Has everyone got their School meal vouchers

[locomoco19]

My school said I should receive an email by the 20th from the government, I then would select the supermarket and they would give the voucher for that supermarket. Is that how it's working?

Is the voucher for all children in infant school that are entitled to free meals?
I won't get it for my year 3 child as not entitled to it. However a family has just said they got the voucher for both their kids in year 3 and 4, they are not in benefit of free school meals so am really confused why they have got it. They live in a different part of the country to me, so thinking does the rules vary

I thought it was just for people on universal credit, not those that are entitled because they’re in KS1. Sorry, not much help but that’s how it is in Devon

they're only for people entitled to FSM, not everyone who gets them for infants in school.

The family must be entitled to them or they wouldn't get them. I'm entitled to them, but I chose to send my kids with sandwiches as the school food doesn't agree with them, but I will be using the vouchers.

Its for all children who are on free school meals. The year 3/4 children you mention must be on free school meals or they wouldn't be getting it. They could have been eligible for FSM in the past and are still getting them now their circumstances have changed but that's none of your business.

We have had three weeks worth of vouchers so far.

I was told by school that it was a packed lunch that I had to collect each day. That was a couple of weeks ago.

Is this across all schools?

It's for children who are in receipt of pupil premium funding at their school. It's not for children who automatically get ks1 free meals (in England anyway, not read abiut elsewhere)

Agree with all of the above, it’s for children who receive PP, FSM not those who get the Universal FSM (EYFS & KS1).

Some schools are doing packed lunches that you have to collect but personally I think that's a bad idea. Our school went out and bought supermarket vouchers immediately and posted them out to all the pupils on FSM so they had provision before the government scheme started.

Don’t expect to get it just because your child was getting a free school meal in infants.
It will only be for those with underlying entitlement to free school meals because of being on certain benefits etc. So those that would continue getting free school meals into juniors.

My children receive FSM

They are still accepting fsm applications by the way, so for anyone reading this whose circumstances have changed or who haven't applied for it before but are eligible, you can apply on the gov website and then the voucher scheme will also apply to you, as below

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

Income Support
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
income-related Employment and Support Allowance
support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

My school are starting it after the Easter hols.

Yeah FSM, I recieved my first voucher today, covering Easter holidays and will receive them every 2 weeks onwards

Pupil premium only. Information should have been sent out by the school including a PP form to fill in and return if you think you should be entitled to it. This doesn't include children who receive infant FSM between reception and Yr2.

Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

That's appallingly low, especially as they have more than halved the income you can get - £7400 is not enough to afford to pay for school meals at £45 a month.

It's only kids who would be entitled to FSM anyway (as per the list above), and now includes children who weren't eligible for FSM due to their family having no recourse to public funds (NRPF) as well.

Info should be available from school. Our letter specifically said it wasn't for all KS1 children who get free lunches, just pupil premium/FSM

Our school gives out food parcels And delivers to people in the shielding group or with symptoms

It's for children who receive free school meals only. I don't even think the pupil premium kids get it. The children in EYFS and KS1 who get the universal free school meals aren't eligible unless their parents have applied for FSM anyway so the school gets PP funding.

As above, if you think you might qualify and haven't applied because your circumstances have recently changed or because your child was in EYFS/KS1 and you didn't need to then please apply to your local council ASAP.

I got one, it was a £15 voucher for Tesco's. The school printed it.

I’m still waiting for mine. They should hopefully come through in the next day or two.

As a side note: I’ve seen a lot bashing regarding these vouchers. We’re going through a pandemic and people still like to get on their high horses about low income families receiving financial help. It’s so bizarre.

I received vouchers for my yr11 ds and honestly did not know he was entitled to fsm. Apparently it’s because he has an echp. Ds has never had school meals throughout his entire time in education so it’s been a complete surprise

Still waiting for mine but can someone tell me, I have 3 at school and I haven’t applied for the fsm for my youngest as he already gets them through the universal system so I didn’t think to apply, I’ve tried to apply online now but it says I need to print the forms and return them to the council, which I can’t do. Will he not just be automatically entitled as my others are?

He will be entitled if his siblings are and it's protected till at least March 2023. However, it does need to be official and the forms do need to go back in as soon as poss. I'm sure under the circumstances the school will be able to help. Our forms come back to school and we submit them. (I deal with PP and FSM at work).

My dc are FSM and PP and I haven’t heard of this? I had a call 2 weeks ago from the school asking me if they want to send a packed lunch home for him which I declined (I am shielding as asthmatic) and couldn’t go and collect them so said don’t worry. Does that mean we won’t receive these vouchers?

Can you get in contact with school? You absolutely should get the vouchers.

I'm still waiting too