No more free school meal vouchers?

[dottydotterson]

What do you think of the governments decision to end the free school meal vouchers for the summer? Do you agree or not?

Right from day one of the introduction of FSM by the Liberal government in 1906 evidence has shown that poor children really suffered during the holidays, especially the long Summer break. The schools used to weigh the children before and after the holidays and the poorest had always lost weight. For over 100 years the poorest children have Needed this support in the holidays and thank God they are finally going to get it.

There will be some parents who will use the money to buy regular food and then spend more on their fags and booze - this goes without question - but for most the money will be out to good use. I was brought up by a parent who prioritised booze and fags over anything and this Money would have just been seen as a bottle of something for them.

These vouchers should exist for every holiday as no child should ever go hungry.

Groceries are more expensive, people are having to shop in limited places due to lack of transport, their usual help from families/other groups is missing. Their income is having to cover more thing.

Oh.... did this only happen to families in receipt of fsm and associated benefits then? I didn’t realise that this was specific to one group and not the rest of us. How foolish of me.

Many of the children on FSM would, as has been explained many times on the thread, have been caught up by holiday clubs, local initiatives (in many areas would actually still be able to go to school for lunch each day) and that is not available this year.

And the furloughed have taken a immediate 20% drop in income; the self employed likewise; the director small business gets nothing; the people who started new jobs at the wrong time get nothing .... what about their kids.

Stop begruding the people that already have the least a small amount of help ffs.

Christ you must be rich. The “people that already had the least” have had an £80 per month income rise or at least have guaranteed income whilst almost everyone else has had a cut and the threat of redundancy. And they’ve had £15 per child extra for shopping .... guaranteed till September now.
Nah .... sorry ..... they aren’t the ones that ill spend my energies worrying about.

Free school meal vouchers should have only ever been issued for school weeks not the holidays.

@Disillusioned11 your name is very appropriate.

I hope when DS2 goes back to school in September, or whenever, his teachers dont think he's got slimmer because I couldn't/wouldn't/didn't feed him properly
He's grown about 3 inches already so has gone 'up and in' as we say.

@stickerqueen - why? Don’t you have a problem with holiday hunger and school children going hungry?

Wishihadanalgorithm

Ffs that’s old old data ..... children in receipt of fsm make up the highest % for children who are overweight / obese. Look it up ffs - google is your friend. There is no doubt their is a good nutrition deficit but as a group, they are not malnourished.

I wouldn't mind not getting the vouchers over the summer as we usually don't. I was quite surprised we got them to begin with.

Oh and not everyone gets £100 extra for the year, a lot of people are benefit capped.

@Disillusioned11

Groceries are more expensive, people are having to shop in limited places due to lack of transport, their usual help from families/other groups is missing. Their income is having to cover more thing.

Oh.... did this only happen to families in receipt of fsm and associated benefits then? I didn’t realise that this was specific to one group and not the rest of us. How foolish of me.

Many of the children on FSM would, as has been explained many times on the thread, have been caught up by holiday clubs, local initiatives (in many areas would actually still be able to go to school for lunch each day) and that is not available this year.

And the furloughed have taken a immediate 20% drop in income; the self employed likewise; the director small business gets nothing; the people who started new jobs at the wrong time get nothing .... what about their kids.

Stop begruding the people that already have the least a small amount of help ffs.

Christ you must be rich. The “people that already had the least” have had an £80 per month income rise or at least have guaranteed income whilst almost everyone else has had a cut and the threat of redundancy. And they’ve had £15 per child extra for shopping .... guaranteed till September now.
Nah .... sorry ..... they aren’t the ones that ill spend my energies worrying about.

Give yourself a break

No-one said it was only families who get FSM who have had increases. However, the people who have the least can afford to adapt to the price increases the least.

And the furloughed have taken a immediate 20% drop in income; the self employed likewise; the director small business gets nothing; the people who started new jobs at the wrong time get nothing .... what about their kids.

Why the race to the bottom? If other groups need help through the holidays then campaign for that rather than carping about other people who need it getting help

Christ you must be rich. The “people that already had the least” have had an £80 per month income rise or at least have guaranteed income whilst almost everyone else has had a cut and the threat of redundancy. And they’ve had £15 per child extra for shopping .... guaranteed till September now.
Nah .... sorry ..... they aren’t the ones that ill spend my energies worrying about.

Educate yourself - the benefit cap means many, many people got no extra. It was a political soundbite.

My DH has been cut to 80% wage. He's also under high risk of redundancy. We're far from rich.

However, as a child I was one of the kids this move is targetted at. So absolutely I do not begrudge them it. They need it.

@Disillusioned11

Groceries are more expensive, people are having to shop in limited places due to lack of transport, their usual help from families/other groups is missing. Their income is having to cover more thing.

Oh.... did this only happen to families in receipt of fsm and associated benefits then? I didn’t realise that this was specific to one group and not the rest of us. How foolish of me.

Many of the children on FSM would, as has been explained many times on the thread, have been caught up by holiday clubs, local initiatives (in many areas would actually still be able to go to school for lunch each day) and that is not available this year.

And the furloughed have taken a immediate 20% drop in income; the self employed likewise; the director small business gets nothing; the people who started new jobs at the wrong time get nothing .... what about their kids.

Stop begruding the people that already have the least a small amount of help ffs.

Christ you must be rich. The “people that already had the least” have had an £80 per month income rise or at least have guaranteed income whilst almost everyone else has had a cut and the threat of redundancy. And they’ve had £15 per child extra for shopping .... guaranteed till September now.
Nah .... sorry ..... they aren’t the ones that ill spend my energies worrying about.

And the furloughed have taken a immediate 20% drop in income;

If your income has dropped below the generous government threshold of £7400 then you too will be the lucky recipient of FSM for your children. If it's above that then it's easy to afford to feed your children so stop complaining - at least that's the government point of view.

iwilltaketwoplease
If you didn’t receive the increase because you are benefit capped, then you are already receiving 20K per year. If you are receiving £20,000 a year, you can afford to feed your kids.

There is so much ignorance in this thread. We receive UC and FSM. My DH works full time usually (furloughed atm). It's not just those who don't work that are eligible for those things. DH being furloughed has had a huge impact on us. I'm eternally grateful for the vouchers.

@Disillusioned11 perhaps you should be the one to use google as obesity and malnourishment can indeed go hand in hand.
There is a big difference between eating to thrive and eating to survive, being poor should not be a barrier to being able to feed your children the nutrients they need to develop properly

@Disillusioned11

Wishihadanalgorithm

Ffs that’s old old data ..... children in receipt of fsm make up the highest % for children who are overweight / obese. Look it up ffs - google is your friend. There is no doubt their is a good nutrition deficit but as a group, they are not malnourished.

Obesity and malnourishment can go hand-in-hand.

@Disillusioned11 you really know very little about nutrition, it is possible to be malnourished and obese due to malnourished?
A person can be overweight or obese and still be malnourished. This can be due to having a diet that is high fat and full of sugar but low in essential vitamins and minerals.

Early estimates suggest 163,000 people lost their jobs in May, on top of 449,000 the previous month. More children not less are going to need help going forward.

Sorry I missed a sentence out but the post is correct.

@Disillusioned11 I didn't say I can't afford to feed my children. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't go out, I wear cheap clothes, I don't go out for coffees or any of that because the majority of the money goes on my rent which I have to pay extra for out of my eligible money because the rent amount here is fucking stupidly high.

@Disillusioned11
The dictionary definition of malnourishment is :
lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat.
If you are going to make bold statements at least check your facts, after all google is your friend

Children eligible for free school meals will be given vouchers for the summer holidays.

If your income has dropped below the generous government threshold of £7400

That’s AFTER benefits not before. If you didn’t receive the ‘covid’ increase because you were benefit capped then that’s 27 THOUSAND POUNDS and then you still get £15 per child per week.
No one is saying while schools are shut, you shouldn’t get that as you would have budgeted to not be paying for lunch during this time. But have would have expected to pay during the holidays and your income hasn’t changed (or has increased) ..... how is that fair?

@oneusernameonly so you can swap them for a gift card to buy whatever ?
See I don't agree with that it should be good only so food is in the house for the children
What you do is amazingly kind but so many who won't and then the kids still go without

iwilltaketwoplease
This whole thread is about extending fsm because “people can’t afford to feed their kids”!! That’s the premise !!

I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't go out, I wear cheap clothes, I don't go out for coffees or any of that because the majority of the money goes on my rent which I have to pay extra for out of my eligible money because the rent amount here is fucking stupidly high.

Same here but i have to suck it up

@Disillusioned11 the people on FSM would normally be propped up by foodbanks and charities during the holidays, the point of extending the vouchers is because these schemes are either overloaded or will not be running due to the pandemic.

Disillusioned11 I am so very sorry my use of “old data” was not good enough for you. Actually I do know about being malnourished as I fucking was as a child and guess what? I was overweight. I ate crap because it was cheap and required no effort. Saw vegetables once a week and fruit less often.

I have worked with the poorest children and many have the terrible diet I had and yep, most are carrying too much weight because bread, chips, crisps and piles of plain pasta fill you up but give you very little nutrition.

For goodness sake, those that need the help should be able to get it. If this is children who will be fed on junk (if at all) then let’s give their parents the money so they can buy a few pieces of fruit and some vegetables. Who on earth would begrudge that?