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

My school phoned and said I was to go to a food bank and a food parcel would be there.
It's 20 mins away. I don't want to go out so I haven't been collecting them.
If my school are offering that, does that mean the vouchers don't apply to me?

I'm too embarrassed to ask the school.

*food parcel waiting if I wanted it. It's not sitting waiting being wasted.

Our school is shut for this week... I’m also too embarrassed to ask the school

PumpkinP when you can please do fill out the forms and apply, not only will it help you now but your child's school will get extra funding as your youngest will be a 'pupil premium' child. I work in school finance and alot of schools lose out on funding because while the children are getting the Infant Free School meals parents don't apply for Free School meals. Once you've done it the school gets the funding for 6 years (or as long as your child is there).
Regarding the different provision of packed lunches to collect/ hampers/ vouchers the differences are because the government announced schools needed to provide Free School meals for children during the school closures and about 2 weeks later organised the online voucher system. Inbetween schools and caterers have done their best to implement local schemes, some will keep these going where they think it is working well others will opt for the government voucher scheme not least because the funding and admin for it is more straight forward. The schools really are trying their best to implement systems they have never had to before in a relatively short space of time

Don't be embarrassed to ask, you can email and someone may well pick up even of it's the Easter holidays. Schools will also he aware that people's circumstances may be changing even more dramatically than usual and Government has made it clear you should apply for Free School Meals if your situation has changed.

Argh I’m another one that didn’t want to Call the school about it as it’s a bit embarrassing. Also don’t want to go down there to sign anything to apply for him.

Where I live you can also only apply for Free School Meals online, I don't know if this is the same across the country but if you look on your Local Authority website it should tell you. The school then will only know if you apply and are eligible, if you're not they won't know.

I’ve already checked and you can’t with mine, it asks me to print a form and send it to the council, libraries closed and no access to a printer at home.

That is rubbish; the only thing I can think of is to ring the council and ask for advice on how to do it when you can't access a printer. They should have something in place to email or similar, good luck x

Please don't be embarrassed to speak to the school, really. Firstly it's confidential and no one knows who doesn't strictly need to know. And secondly we really don't think anything of it. It's there to help and we want to get that help to whoever needs it. That's the only thing we're concerned about.

Please do not be embarrassed to phone the schools/council. Firstly, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. There are a lot more people needing FSM then there were a couple of months ago, you are not going to be the only ones claiming. Secondly, schools want the best for their pupils and their families and will want to help. And thirdly they will be biting your hands off if you are entitled to claim as they will get funding for the school. The vouchers shouldn't be costing them anything as the Government will refund them, but schools get extra funding Pupil Premium which will also benefit your child and this funding should last as long as the child is at the school even if your financial circumstances improve and you no longer qualify for FSM.

Please note the rules are different in Scotland.

So as a school governor I ask you to phone the school tomorrow both for your benefit and the school's benefit. They will try and help you manage the system if you can't print the form etc. Do not use that as an excuse to not get the help for your children.

The schools I govern for are not using the voucher scheme at the moment but are handing out weekly food parcels. Across all the local schools there were over 500 food parcels last week, if that makes you feel better so you know you are not the only family needing help. If parents can't get to the collection points, teachers are delivering them. As I say teachers want the best for their pupils.

Dc already have FSM and I said no to them sending him a packed lunch each day.... he doesn’t eat a lot of what they have in a packed lunch (he eats the hot meal at school) are they able to send this voucher instead of or does this mean they have chosen to only send packed lunch?

With these vouchers, can you use them online? I can’t go to the shops due to shielding....

I had a voucher from our secondary school last week, they said they will review this after easter holidays

Monday our primary sent out a message to confirm email address for a voucher too so i assume that will start after easter

We had previously declined a packed lunch from both schools.

Oh and the voucher i was sent last week could be used online yes

The food parcels would have been what the school had organised themselves in the interim before the government pulled their finger out. Some schools may have organised their own voucher. Contact your school to see if you can now get a voucher as they will have probably switched over.

@PumpkinP contact your school and your council to see if you can get a word document copy that you can email back or of they are doing it online now instead.

@Rockbird yes I contacted the school, they said that the government will email me by the 20th and that it won't include vouchers for the Easter holidays, only for after the holidays.

It is for all children in infant school, as my sisters school contacted her and said they'll be sending hers out.

So am a bit confused, is it £15 voucher per child in a household, or one voucher regardless of how many children in the household are FSM?

Free school mea vouchers are only for low income families whose children claim pupil premium

It is different if you are in Scotland

Our local authority has said that we cannot provide vouchers of our normal school meal provider can continue to supply food- which they can. So each eligible child receives a weekly hamper of food ( bread, fruit, tinned tuna, cheese, yoghurt etc) sufficient for 5 lunches. Vouchers are not available for our children. The hampers are either collected once a week or, for those families that can't collect them, will be delivered by school staff.

It’s not for pupil premimium pupils I’m pretty sure. Only if you happen to be PP and usually entitled to fsm.
My children are on PP as a few years ago they were on fsm, but they haven’t been entitled to fsm for a few years now.
Fsm and pp are not the same thing and children don’t necessarily get both.

It's not for PP children who get it because they have a parent in the forces or are/have been in care, it's only for the means tested low income families I believe.

Schools still get Pupil Premium even if parents no longer qualify for FSM. This is why schools are forever asking families to apply for FSM even if they are already getting FSM under KS1 universal FSM scheme.

So the vouchers/food parcels will only be for children who currently qualify for FSM under the low income rules (in England). If your circumstances have changed so you are now claiming benefits when you didn’t before you may now qualify for FSM so please check.

The vouchers are only for means tested FSM children.
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)

You need to apply either at school or at the Council. This varies.

dd's school give her a Sainsburys shopping card the week they broke up it was for 10 days not heard anything from them since about vouchers

And they are also supposed to be covering the Easter holidays too

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/education-52183713