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?

3ismylot

I’m at a loss to understand what the dictionary definition has to do with anything?

I was responding to a post that said children in receipt of fsm lose weight over the summer due a lack of food. Which is not true. As I pointed out, the stats are that they are the most likely to be overweight and research shows that any weight loss is likely environmental due to them being out and about not in sat in school. I said in my post that there is a nutrition deficit so your semantics about dictionary definition proofed what exactly. Find me any research anywhere that shows that if you temporarily increase benefits, that nutrition deficit goes down and maybe we can have a debate. But I’ll save you the bother ..... it doesn’t. Education is the only thing that is proven to turn poor diet into better diet in the western world. Very very few children in Britain do not have enough to eat, the problem is they eat the wrong things and that’s not solved by temporarily giving an additional benefit.

proved

Snow-white if he works full time and you claim uc you're over the limit of £7400. So ineligible.

Is it universal free school meals?

And my original comment before the huge detail was .... ironically what this scheme has done has offer a huge disincentive for families receiving fsm to send their children back to school when they are able. It is a huge concern to those of us who have these figures

Detail = derail

@Disillusioned11 no you said that obese children were not malnourished, that simply isn't true!
I am more than happy to debate with you, show me your evidence that education is the only thing proven to turn poor diet into better diet in the western world. I am just about to qualify as a nutritionist and the papers Ihave spent 3 years reading, show that no one strategy works and that actually a multifaceted initiative is required.
Children are eating the wrong things BECAUSE of poverty, so additional benefit will indeed enable them to eat better, the fact it is temporary is a whole other debate and I am hopeful that the government can be forced to make the holiday vouchers apply to EVERY school holiday going forward.

I have also spent the last 2 summers volunteering for a charity that does indeed prop up these families.
As the 6 weeks progress the number of families that require our services increases as they just cannot afford to replace the lost meals.

@Disillusioned11

And my original comment before the huge detail was .... ironically what this scheme has done has offer a huge disincentive for families receiving fsm to send their children back to school when they are able. It is a huge concern to those of us who have these figures

That's completely irrelevant to the decision to continue the vouchers over the summer break. There is no summer school for these children therefore the choice was simply "voucher or no voucher".

Beyond September, or if a different scheme would have been better originally, is a whole different debate.

Annoys me that I'm a struggling working single mum and I'm not entitled to any free school meals. Why should it just be for parents on benefits?

@Willowmartha1

Annoys me that I'm a struggling working single mum and I'm not entitled to any free school meals. Why should it just be for parents on benefits?

It's not. It's only for people who meet a very low income threshold.

@Willowmartha1

Annoys me that I'm a struggling working single mum and I'm not entitled to any free school meals. Why should it just be for parents on benefits?

Because them being in receipt of benefits means they are below the threshold income. I personally think the threshold should be even higher, however, no matter where you draw the line someone will be on the cusp of affordability. If you are struggling you should see what local charities you have in your area, as many are inclusive and help anyone they can.

@Willowmartha1

Annoys me that I'm a struggling working single mum and I'm not entitled to any free school meals. Why should it just be for parents on benefits?

Quit your job and claim fsm then.

Honestly . I was an unemployed single mum and then a student mum so claimed fsm for a couple of years. Then I went to work ft and no longer qualified for them. I didn't give a shiney shit that other people got them and I didn't. Now I'm not working again, although not claiming fsm either although I should be able to.

Goodness me, a lot of people resent children getting lunch. That’s very sad.

@TheFormerPorpentiaScamander well said.

Why are people so keen for a race to the bottom? In a country with the 5th largest economy, no one should be having to rely on food banks and charities just to eat.

@Parker231 My kids have never go hungry in the holidays and yes I'm claiming benefits myself carers allowance, esa & tax credit . Ive been sent codes in the last school holiday guess what I've not redeemed the codes because It's my place to feed my kids in the holidays like every other year.

No child should go hungry but it's up to the parent to feed the child and not waste their money on pointless things after all benefits are there to help feed us.

3ismylot

How is an extra £15 a week per child due to COVID a multifaceted approach? That is what is under discussion here?

No child should go hungry but it's up to the parent to feed the child and not waste their money on pointless things after all benefits are there to help feed us

So the best was to punish the non-deserving poor is to not feed their children?

I hate the superiority surrounding people on low incomes.

@strugglingwithdeciding there is a list of exclusions such as alcohol, tobacco, scratch cards etc. It's up to the individual shop/cashier to enforce this, so if it really was as big an issue as people are making out then they could be warned by the gov.

More fool you @stickerqueen. It has fuck all to do with people spending their non-existent money on 'pointless things' (pointless as determined by who exactly? You?) And more to do with the fact that benefits/low wages are not actually enough for families to live on, especially during a global pandemic.

@stickerqueen pointless things such as rent, electricity, water, heating etc? Not everyone can afford to feed their children no matter how much they budget. If you can that is great but it doesn't change the fact that millions of children in the UK go hungry in the holidays

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/17/trident-renewal-205bn-arguments-for-against

But feeding children is a BAD idea???

[quote stickerqueen]@Parker231 My kids have never go hungry in the holidays and yes I'm claiming benefits myself carers allowance, esa & tax credit . Ive been sent codes in the last school holiday guess what I've not redeemed the codes because It's my place to feed my kids in the holidays like every other year.

No child should go hungry but it's up to the parent to feed the child and not waste their money on pointless things after all benefits are there to help feed us.[/quote]
Ok so if it’s up to the parent to feed the child then it’s also up to the parent to care for the child, house the child, clothe the child. So you won’t be claiming anymore tax credits, carers allowance, housing benefit, uniform grant etc?

@Disillusioned11 the £15 isn't a multifaceted approach it is a direct replacement for the food banks and holiday schemes that either cannot cope with demand or operate due to COVID.
You are just trying to confuse two separate arguments. I was merely pointing out your misconception that the evidence points to education being the ONLY PROVEN way to improve diet which I asked you to substantiate

I’d rather see a scheme where schools still have free meals for children that are entitled to them. They could provide the school meal that they usually do for each child every day in the holidays for much less cost than the current voucher scheme.

Ffs! Why do people always leap to extremes and go booloo on these threads. No one is suggesting on this thread that benefits shouldn’t exist or that those that need them shouldn’t get them etc. All some of us are suggesting in our humble opinions is that extending the fsm voucher scheme into the holidays is not a fair response to the global economic nightmare that had descended on all us. The vast majority of the rest of us have at best uncertain future incomes and at worse have taken significant pay cuts whilst facing the same upward costs as everyone has.