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?

*Nochangeplease,

*This a bit of no information on here.,

The extra benefit money announced for during the pandemic is for everyone. Whether working or not. I work, and have universal credit and al receiving it. I have a friend who doesn’t work and is on full UC who is also getting it.

Yes those on UC do receive it but what about all those on the other types of benefits? No it is not for everyone and they do not receive the extra £80. Only a relatively small proportion are on UC even now and migration has slowed.

Also those on UC who do receive it are still subject to the benefit cap.

According to the DFEs Facebook page they are introducing a 6week summer food voucher, they announced 30 mins ago

Both me and my husband work. As a result we are not entitled to any sort of income/benefit

We are not rich and have to adapt our lifestyle to suit our limited budget.

Infact, we have had to cut our food expenditures, like many others.

There’s no incentive for workers to keep working, as the taxes we pay go towards helping other people. But if a worker needs financial assistance from the state it’s declined because “we work”, therefore not needy enough

No.... I do not agree that vouchers should be given through the summer as well !!

101jobs yes me and my husband work too, and we aren’t entitled to anything. But the difference is I can see outside of my own bubble and see that I am fortunate. Many many people work but STILL require state help because this country is so damn expensive to survive in. The idea that people begrudge children eating is disgusting. Ironically the people usually up in arms about any talk of means testing the benefits bestowed upon the elder generation eg. Tv license, fuel allowance, freedom pass.

No.... I do not agree that vouchers should be given through the summer as well!!

101 jobs and 0 empathy, good job, well done you

@101jobs Financial assistance from the state isn't declined because 'we work' it is declined because your earnings are over the threshold for benefits.
That same threshold applies to those in receipt of FSM, they only get them because they are on such low incomes.

Our household has to live within a budget, even households with higher earners live within budgets but that doesn't mean that we should begrudge a hungry child a meal each day, moaning that you have to watch the pennies doesn't change the fact that many households are in POVERTY.

@JustAnotherPoster00

Children should not go hungry! It is a disgrace that that can happen, in this country.

The reason that happens because idiots people say this

Personally I think too many children get free school meals.

How unbelievably nasty you are, calling people idiots because they don’t just say every child should get free school meals!

Pretty certain you are the idiot who thinks that all school pupils (and younger children at home), irrespective of age should be getting free meals all year round and to hell with the cost of such an initiative! Everything costs money in case you hadn’t realised, or more likely don’t care!

Another solution would be to increase Child Benefit so all children, apart from those in the better off families, received more, but you probably don’t agree with that either? Do you think that the Country should just have an open bank roll, and the National debt soar as it did under the last Labour Government? Actually don’t bother answering that, I don’t think your answer would be anything other than I would expect!

@lyralalala ”It's also not only poor children that go hungry.”

It is a parents responsibility to feed their children if they can afford to, nobody else’s! Parents do need to take some responsibility in their children’s welfare.

Well it’s peoples And corporations responsibility to
Pay tax but we know that doesn’t happen!

Love all the people who would never find themselves in the need of state help, who’s husband would never leave them, who would never have their home repossessed, never find themselves in a refuge, who would never have to give up their job to care for a disabled child, who would never make a wrong turn and fall on their face - bravo for all being so superior!

Parents do need to take some responsibility in their children’s welfare

Parents that are being finacially, physically or sexually abused at home by their partners. Parents that are too scared to leave the home with the children, because she knows what he will do to her children.

I am not one of those parents, but thousands are.
These are the parents I think off.

It is a parents responsibility to feed their children if they can afford to, nobody else’s! I do not agree - if a parent cannot feed their child - you can't punish the child.

Very glad to see Boris has done (another) u turn on this. Personally I think the universal free school meals for YR-2 should be abandoned. I have a child in Y1 and while I'm not in any way rolling in it, I don't need free lunches for him. Why not save the money for those that actually need it? I'd far rather those that need it could rely on it through (particularly the long) holidays.

Parents do need to take some responsibility in their children’s welfare
Yes, in theory, they should.
However, if two parents working full time cannot make ends meet because their pay is too low and their outgoings are too high, then they require assistance. If a family becomes a single-parent family and cannot make ends meet, especially if the non-resident parent uses loopholes to cheat paying maintenance, they require assistance. If a parent is in an abusive relationship and is being denied access to money or is scared of ramifications then they require assistance.

Life is a spectrum of circumstances and people need to recognise that and empathise with those most vulnerable (usually through no fault of their own)

It is a parents responsibility to feed their children if they can afford to, nobody else’s! Parents do need to take some responsibility in their children’s welfare

I mean if only we weren’t in the middle of a global pandemic causing widespread job losses....

Just to clarify, whatever the reason the child isn’t getting fed - your position is to punish the child for the sins of the father (and mother!)

It is a parents responsibility to feed their children if they can afford to, nobody else’s! Parents do need to take some responsibility in their children’s welfare.

@Tootsie321 FSM is means tested. They get FSM because it is recognised that their income is so low they will struggle to feed themselves and their children. By applying for FSM and asking for help parents are taking responsibility - they are doing all they can.

That's before we even get to the fact there is a pandemic, grocery shopping has increased considerably in price, getting shopping is still difficult, maintenance issues are even more atm, people have lost income, UC is taking weeks to re-calculate.

@101jobs

Both me and my husband work. As a result we are not entitled to any sort of income/benefit

We are not rich and have to adapt our lifestyle to suit our limited budget.

Infact, we have had to cut our food expenditures, like many others.

There’s no incentive for workers to keep working, as the taxes we pay go towards helping other people. But if a worker needs financial assistance from the state it’s declined because “we work”, therefore not needy enough

No.... I do not agree that vouchers should be given through the summer as well !!

How fortunate that you had space in your food budget to make cuts. Many people do not.

You were not not entitled to benefits because "we work" - you are not entitled because you have an income over the threshold.

Should you lose hours or your job you'll be entitled to the same level of help.

@TorysSuckRevokeArticle50

According to the DFEs Facebook page they are introducing a 6week summer food voucher, they announced 30 mins ago

Great news and massive respect to Marcus Rashford for putting his name to this campaign.

I cannot stand that we live in a U.K. in 2020 that means that some people who currently (or usually) work full time cannot earn enough money to feed their children because the minimum wage is so low. That is a national disgrace. Blaming feckless parents who don’t work or who spend it all on fags and booze is an easy way to avoid responsibility for us creating a country in which we can have the fifth biggest economy in the world but a significant percentage of our children who live in poverty.

I have - thank god - never needed benefits and am a higher tax payer, although when I was little we were hard up so I know my parents had to make sacrifices to keep us warm and fed. But I cannot think of anything that I would rather the money I spend on taxes be spent on than stopping children starving in my own country.

I genuinely despair that there are people who would actively choose that our country lets it’s children starve.

I grew up poor, it was awful.
My dad worked but was an alcoholic and was abusive, he never gave my mum money for us.
I remember mum getting her school uniform allowance through and how excited we'd all be to get new school shoes.
I'm now a higher rate tax payer, as our most of my siblings, and I very happily welcome this news - I hope it continues.
So might misuse, but most won't.
It if stops children going to sleep with empty bellies long may this policy continue.

I'm not sure how it would be done but I think it should be possible to opt out of R-yr2 free school meals in a way that guarantees that funding goes back into providing free school meals for those who need them.

We don't need the free school meals, and don't often use them as DD prefers a packed lunch but I don't know what happens to the funding for that meal or if the food is just wasted as in our school they choose day to day whether they want hot food or a packed lunch from home they don't ask for the decision in advance.

@TorysSuckRevokeArticle50

I'm not sure how it would be done but I think it should be possible to opt out of R-yr2 free school meals in a way that guarantees that funding goes back into providing free school meals for those who need them.

We don't need the free school meals, and don't often use them as DD prefers a packed lunch but I don't know what happens to the funding for that meal or if the food is just wasted as in our school they choose day to day whether they want hot food or a packed lunch from home they don't ask for the decision in advance.

Food won't be wasted. School meal portions are often tiny, completely suitable for a 5yo, but not so much a 10yo. Plus they'll get to know very quickly the rough percentage of kids who have lunches and have packed lunches. It won't vary by hundreds every day.

Also, in several schools I've worked in children who don't qualify, but need a meal (either emergency, or it's known they are in an abusive home etc) can be given a meal much easier when there are extras.

With school budgets so tight they will not be wasting food.

I live a tourist hot spot. Many of the parents in my school are seasonal workers. They work full time (and more!) in the busy summer months. Then, for 6-8 months of the year they earn very little, if anything. But, in those months of work they go above the £7400 threshold (which isn’t much, is it?!) and so, are ineligible for free school meals. There is no other work, they are reliant on whatever benefits they can get and whatever they have managed to save to get them through.

It’s a fucking scandal in the world’s fifth richest economy that nearly 1/3 of our children live in poverty.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

”And pp can f off with their "too many people get free school meals" baloney, citing one person they claim to know who can afford not to have them. You have to be seriously skint to qualify.“

I think you might be getting at me and I apologise that the information I gave in my post was wrong...
I live in Scotland and its actually all pupils in p1-p3 who get fsm, irrespective of family’s financial circumstances! So, in fact, I do know dozens of (and there are hundreds more) pupils in my area who get free school meals, who’s parents are certainly not “seriously skint!”

”In Scotland, every child who attends a local council school is eligible to get a free school lunch in primary 1, 2 and 3, regardless of their family's financial circumstances. Some children who are in funded childcare before they start school, such as early learning, can also receive free school meals.”

@lyralalala

It is a parents responsibility to feed their children if they can afford to, nobody else’s! Parents do need to take some responsibility in their children’s welfare.

@Tootsie321 FSM is means tested. They get FSM because it is recognised that their income is so low they will struggle to feed themselves and their children. By applying for FSM and asking for help parents are taking responsibility - they are doing all they can.

That's before we even get to the fact there is a pandemic, grocery shopping has increased considerably in price, getting shopping is still difficult, maintenance issues are even more atm, people have lost income, UC is taking weeks to re-calculate.

In Scotland, where I live, all pupils in p1-p3 get fsm irrespective of family’s financial circumstances. This is NOT means tested! The money that could be saved, by not giving fsm to those who can easily afford it, would go a long way towards feeding those who DO actually need help!

Re: free school meals in the early years- The problem with all means tested benefits is the people on the cusp who will be forced into struggle/ poverty once said benefit is removed.
You also cannot trust how the government means test- look at the almighty fuck up of child benefit!
Ultimately this is for children, and if a free school meal in the early years (Or free travel in London for secondary school children) allows a parent a bit of extra money for an extra day out in the summer holidays or better child care I’m happy for that.

Big big u-turn from the Government following the campaign from Marcus Rashford. No child should be going hungry. Have been listening to some of the interviews on Radio 5 Live from people affected - heartbreaking.