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?

@NailsNeedDoing in theory, yes but in practice no, because then you have to pay the additional staff needed to cook and serve the food, clear away and open/close the schools each day. It also involves parents getting the children to school each day which may cost a lot of money, especially parents who have school transport provided. There is no easy answer or solution but the extended vouchers are a step in the right direction

@NailsNeedDoing

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.

Places that normally do that can't at the moment.

Normally we, a playscheme, open our lunch sessions for the children in receipt of FSM of all the local schools each day.

We're not running in the summer. We can't because of social distancing and bubbles. There's no way anyone else would be able to offer the meals in the same way; there's not the space to facilitate distancing and bubbles. The cost of doing individually for every bubble in every school at different times would cost far more than the vouchers.

@Disillusioned11 no one said benefits shouldn't exist, they were just applying another posters logic to a wider scope to show how ridiculous it was!.
The fact that so many people are facing such uncertain times is evidence that a safety net is needed more than ever for those on the lowest incomes, whether they are temporary or permanent.

@Disillusioned11

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.

Fair?! Seriously? It really doesn't need to be a race to the bottom. There should be more help for more people if it's needed. Not removing it from those on the bottom step of the ladder already.

People who've taken pay cuts and face redundancy have the safety net of knowing if they hit the thresholds then they'll be entitled to FSM and the likes. I believe in Scotland over 50,000 children who weren't entitled to FSM last year are this year.

Thankfully many of us who have taken a hit to the household finances have a bit of wiggle room. Choice and wiggle room is the biggest luxuries there are. DH has had a 20% pay cut. We've cut budgets for everything. If he gets made redundant then we'll likely have to sell our house and move to a smaller house in a really rough area.

People who qualify for FSM already have zero wiggle room. The increase in costs has wiped any they had.

Nothing about this shitshow has been fair!

@lyralalala I agree with everything you are saying.
People just cannot seem to grasp the fact that those in receipt of FSM have no choices.
I am shocked that so many think because others are struggling that it is reasonable to REDUCE state help rather than INCREASE it!

1.3 million children will now benefit this summer holidays - this should be celebrated not criticised.

Many posters and their DH’s could loose their jobs this week and their DC’s be in the same position as other children who will benefit from these meal vouchers.

@Parker231 exactly, the only criticism it should receive is the fact that 1.3 million children (and growing) are in the situation to need the help in the first place!

[quote 3ismylot]@lyralalala I agree with everything you are saying.
People just cannot seem to grasp the fact that those in receipt of FSM have no choices.
I am shocked that so many think because others are struggling that it is reasonable to REDUCE state help rather than INCREASE it![/quote]
Growing up as I did I learned young that choice is the biggest luxury you can have.

I think it's a shame that a lot of people don't seem to realise this is an ongoing issue that is normally targetted by other groups. We can't target the kids who need it this year so the government need to step in. These children shouldn't be abandoned, especially when their number is likely to increase because of the redundancies that are coming for many.

The race to the bottom makes me despair.

@lyralalala choice is indeed the greatest luxury.
One of the main problems is that because so many food banks and charities usually support the provision of meals to these families, the majority of the public do not see what goes on.
The scheme I usually work with cannot operate this summer either and I am gutted as I know for some families it provided so much more than just a meal, the vouchers will help but they are a tiny part of what the government needs to be doing to solve this issue long term.

[quote strugglingwithdeciding]@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 [/quote]
Yes I can. The initial email states you can not buy age restricted products but once you use the voucher to ‘buy’ your gift card you can spend it on what you want. I didn’t feel comfortable with it either at first. But how it was explained to me by the school was that they needed everyone who qualified to take them up on it or if it was felt it wasn’t needed the government would stop it and the kids who needed it most would miss out. A bit like the reason every year at school on census day the school goes all out to encourage people to use FSM if they qualify (my kids take a pack up but on that day I order them a school lunch) because FSM is more than just free food. The schools get funding that goes beyond free lunches that benefits the kids who really need it. I know, my kids were those kids once. Now I am working, my uni age son is looking after my younger 2 whilst I work which is hard but I appreciate I am very lucky in my situation despite being on a low wage working to support adults with learning difficulties. Damn right I will take the vouchers and pay them forward to
someone who may be where I was a few years ago. Yes some parents will be shit and buy the wrong things but if it helps even a minority of kids who through no fault of their own are not in a great situation then I am all for it.

Oh and I worked out if the scheme carries on until September I will receive £400ish in vouchers. I am happy to use them to help any small registered charity.

I don't think they should carry on in the holidays no. Said on TV they are though. I would probably say different if I was getting them 😂 single mum, low income but not entitled. Tbh I've found I've saved money. I am still getting the same amount of money and cannot go out.

I find all this talk of ‘starving’ children so ironic, given that a lot of children in this country are actually overweight/obese.

If all they do all day is actually stare at screens, will it really harm them to miss the odd meal?

When was the last time you saw a malnourished child??

@Smallsteps88 I get carers allowance because I care for a disabled child so can't work I have to care for my child until school age so for now, I will carry on claiming so I can care for my child, uniform grant not had one them I buy my older kids uniform myself out of the tax credits I get for them.
Once youngest heads to school I'll go back to work and stop claiming.
I didn't know I would have a disabled child that needs me at home.
I hate having to claim but for now i have too

@WitchesGlove

I find all this talk of ‘starving’ children so ironic, given that a lot of children in this country are actually overweight/obese.

If all they do all day is actually stare at screens, will it really harm them to miss the odd meal?

When was the last time you saw a malnourished child??

Overweight and obese children are often malnourished. The two can go hand-in-hand

If all they do all day is actually stare at screens, will it really harm them to miss the odd meal?

And really? Children going hungry is acceptable to you?

Witches overweight children are malnourished if they've got fat eating glorified cardboard. And are often hungryba lot of the time from eating empty, cheap food. That's why so many children born into poverty are fat.

Don't be so dense. 🙄

@ToBBQorNotToBBQ

I don't think they should carry on in the holidays no. Said on TV they are though. I would probably say different if I was getting them 😂 single mum, low income but not entitled. Tbh I've found I've saved money. I am still getting the same amount of money and cannot go out.

This kind of reply always makes me curious. Why not?

You know what it's like to be on a low income so how can you not understand the extra difficulties that will be placed on people on an even lower income with the rise in food costs, lack of holiday clubs etc?

@WitchesGlove you clearly have not read all the posts on this thread!
It has already been clearly stated that obesity and malnourishment can and do go hand in hand.
Malnourishment is not simply a lack of food it is a lack of nutritious food.
Many children that are not getting the correct nourishment the need at the moment will end up with stunted development by the time they finish puberty.

@WitchesGlove

I find all this talk of ‘starving’ children so ironic, given that a lot of children in this country are actually overweight/obese.

If all they do all day is actually stare at screens, will it really harm them to miss the odd meal?

When was the last time you saw a malnourished child??

Your ignorance is showing.

[quote stickerqueen]@Smallsteps88 I get carers allowance because I care for a disabled child so can't work I have to care for my child until school age so for now, I will carry on claiming so I can care for my child, uniform grant not had one them I buy my older kids uniform myself out of the tax credits I get for them.
Once youngest heads to school I'll go back to work and stop claiming.
I didn't know I would have a disabled child that needs me at home.
I hate having to claim but for now i have too[/quote]
So it makes zero sense that you think people shouldn’t claim food vouchers to help them feed their DC when you are happy to accept state support to pay for what you can’t pay for yourself. You are no different from the people who are getting FSM vouchers.

Malnourishment is not always visible it is a nutritional status and the sooner people understand the difference the better!
Just like a person's CURRENT weight does not tell you their CURRENT nutritional status it shows you what has gone on in the past!

@lyralalala I wasn’t talking about a play scheme. I was talking about individual schools.

I can’t speak for all schools obviously and I know schools would have various challenges, but I can’t see why it would be impossible for my school to provide a packed lunch throughout the Summer holidays for FSM children. The catering company would need to provide staff that it doesn’t usually over the holidays but many of the school cooks I know of haven’t been working as much as usual if at all over lockdown and they might like the opportunity to earn more money.

@stickerqueen I didn't know I would have a disabled child that needs me at home
Just like many people didn't know they would end up in poverty and needing these vouchers!

[quote NailsNeedDoing]@lyralalala I wasn’t talking about a play scheme. I was talking about individual schools.

I can’t speak for all schools obviously and I know schools would have various challenges, but I can’t see why it would be impossible for my school to provide a packed lunch throughout the Summer holidays for FSM children. The catering company would need to provide staff that it doesn’t usually over the holidays but many of the school cooks I know of haven’t been working as much as usual if at all over lockdown and they might like the opportunity to earn more money.[/quote]
The reason we open at lunchtime for all the kids locally is that it's much, much cheaper to do it in one place.

Most schools won't have the budget to fund opening the school for 2/3 hours a day (possibly more to allow for distancing), buying the food and staffing it, far less all the schools in the area spending on it.

There's also the issue atm of getting the meals to children who are normally transported to school by bus or taxi and shielding children/children from shielding families.

It would be much more expensive than vouchers. If there was a cheaper way the governments and LA's would be doing that. They won't be spending money where they could be saving it.