No free school meals during Feb half term

[noblegiraffe]

The new guidance on free school meals says that schools should not provide food or vouchers during Feb half term.

This won’t be needed as some general funding is going to LAs and they will be expected to provide food/support for the week schools are off.

This is bonkers, right? They’ve only just sorted it so that kids get more than a manky banana, cheese and dry bread for lunch and they’re going to switch to a different system for a week?

Does this government just really hate feeding hungry kids?

YANBU: sticking with one system for feeding disadvantaged kids would be best

YABU: it’ll be fine, no one will fall through the cracks and the transition will be seamless.

@VinylDetective

If you can’t adequately provide a meal for your child then you are not a fit parent

I’m sure my adult son wouldn’t agree with you. Many years ago when he was very small we were completely skint. A rummage down the back of the sofa and anywhere else I could think of yielded just about enough money for a pint of milk or a loaf of bread but not both. Fortunately a friend was in the same situation so we pooled our money, bought the milk and bread and split both in halves.

There were plenty of times when I struggled but we got through, usually more by luck than judgement. I’m 40 years older now and comfortably off but you don’t forget - or you shouldn’t. Being broke doesn’t make you an unfit parent.

but this is so true Vinyl. In the same way having money to feed your kids doesn't actually make you a good parent....

After reading the horrible comments on this thread, thank goodness for Marcus Rashford. He understands the problem of child poverty. He has a great mum but needed help to feed her family.

I anticipate the government doing another u- turn and will provide lunches over the half term holiday.

I hope some of the posters here don’t loose their jobs this month and have to look to foodbanks and free school meals for help. A little compassion would go along way. Perhaps some donations to your local foodbank would be a good idea this weekend?

Does this government just really hate feeding hungry kids?

They are probably of the opinion that it's a parent's responsibility to feed their children. Not the taxpayer.

Why would anyone want to see any child go hungry regardless of the circumstances?

@WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo

Removing the benefit cap would be a start.

What good will that do? It was capped for a reason. If people cannot feed the kids they currently have why would you advocate for people having bigger families?

It’s all good saying raise wages. It’s not going to happen is it? Because in order for that to work everyone would need an increase otherwise if you remove caps and increase the children’s benefits the low earners will see no point in going to work as it won’t be viable.

@Chel098 The benefit cap has fuck all to do with family size. I have 2 dc so within the "allowed limit". Due to the benefit cap I receive approx £300 per month LESS than the gov actually say a single parent of 2 needs to live on. So they are knowingly keeping us in poverty.
And no I can't move/get a job. I've been waiting 6+months to hear if I qualify for ESA/PiP. There's a backlog due to Covid apparently. So while I wait I'll just have to keep hoping my landlord doesn't raise my rent. I'll be fucked if he does.

@ElizaLaLa

Does this government just really hate feeding hungry kids?

They are probably of the opinion that it's a parent's responsibility to feed their children. Not the taxpayer.

Who's job is it to feed their MPs and give them pay rises then

The reason I said increase child benefit as it would help out a hell of a lot more families put it this was my wage last year came to 6500 benefits 8800ish so total for the year is 15000 I am not entitled to fsm, as I receive working tax credits why was my income so low because business was slow they cut my hours from 40 to 12 then we got furloughed I was getting 500 a month wages my rent is 500 a month so benefits have to cover everything else, bills 400 a month now as we all home all day then I have to buy food food at £80 a week now also since we are all home, that leaves me with £6.54 ish a week got forbid if my child grows out his clothes or the fridge breaks oh and not to mention the 2000 debt I am in as we had to move home fast and had no saving,

@ElizaLaLa

Does this government just really hate feeding hungry kids?

They are probably of the opinion that it's a parent's responsibility to feed their children. Not the taxpayer.

They've already funded extra food for children by providing a grant to councils. It's called the Covid Winter grant scheme. Funny how peopk

^^ Funny how people keep ignoring that little fact though.

@FTEngineerM

Gosh, grabby.. I understand parents end up in predicaments sometimes but if you can afford to feed your child ever there is something seriously amiss.

I think the virus has shown up the number of children living in deprivation, yes parents should be responsible for feeding their children during the holidays, but we now know how difficult it is for many.

They've already funded extra food for children by providing a grant to councils. It's called the Covid Winter grant scheme.

This ^. Parent's also get child benefit and possibly Child Tax Credit . If footballers or rich entrepreneurs feel very strongly about this and think that the Covid Winter grant scheme is not enough , then perhaps they should chip in with some of their own millions of £s.

This ^. Parent's also get child benefit and possibly Child Tax Credit . If footballers or rich entrepreneurs feel very strongly about this and think that the Covid Winter grant scheme is not enough , then perhaps they should chip in with some of their own millions of £s.

Which of course they do as they pay tax on their millions of £'s!

Many of them make huge charitable donations, but of course nothing will ever be right or enough.

*@HOS8595

Can’t feed your children 5 lunches in a weeks school holiday and you are a shit parent.*

Lack empathy and can't see that circumstances happen, jobs lost, marriage breakdowns, illness, can't see outside your own little world of ideal and you are a shit person!

Don't forget that a lot of poorer families have to use prepayment meters for their gas & electric, usually this means that they have got behind with their payments & often have to repay this money through benefits as well as paying higher tariffs than normal meters. It's no wonder that they have a lot less money for food.

And a other thing which should be stopped is the fact prepayment have a higher tarred for gas/electricity! This needs to stop.

And another thing which should be stopped is the fact prepayment have a higher tariff for gas/electricity! This needs to stop.

That's what I should've put below.

@noblegiraffe

we are also allowed to question why the parents suddenly don't have to be responsible anymore

Have you not seen the threads on MN when the holidays are approaching reminding us that disadvantaged kids are reliant on food banks during the holidays and to ask for food bank donations of easy lunch-type foods?

Other people have stepped in previously to ensure those children get fed. But there really should be a proper system for it like there is in term time, don’t you think?

Can you tell us what foods they need at the food banks please? What do they want/need for children’s lunches? Thanks in advance 👍🏻

[quote Bookworming]*@HOS8595

Can’t feed your children 5 lunches in a weeks school holiday and you are a shit parent.*

Lack empathy and can't see that circumstances happen, jobs lost, marriage breakdowns, illness, can't see outside your own little world of ideal and you are a shit person! [/quote]
Yes what a shit person feeding my own kids instead of expecting the government to do it.

[quote Chargebeam]@HOS8595

Please never have children, you are a fucking sociopath.[/quote]
😂😂😂 because I think parents should feed their own kids in the school holidays and i think not feeding your child is neglect.

Oh well.

[quote WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo]@Chel098 The benefit cap has fuck all to do with family size. I have 2 dc so within the "allowed limit". Due to the benefit cap I receive approx £300 per month LESS than the gov actually say a single parent of 2 needs to live on. So they are knowingly keeping us in poverty.
And no I can't move/get a job. I've been waiting 6+months to hear if I qualify for ESA/PiP. There's a backlog due to Covid apparently. So while I wait I'll just have to keep hoping my landlord doesn't raise my rent. I'll be fucked if he does.[/quote]
www.gov.uk/benefit-cap

That’s incorrect. There’s a range of things of things that the benefit cap effects not just rent costs.

The stereotype of poor = lazy and undeserving but rich = hard working and worthy is really odd in a country that still has a House of Lords, landed gentry, aristocracy etc. A lot of people running the country (I would assume the majority but am unaware of the figures) are there because they were born privileged into families with money who paid for the best education and afforded them opportunities that many will never have. Their children are not more worthy of being fed because their parents all worked hard to earn money. If Boris Johnson and co. had been born FSM children on a council estate in East London do we think they would all still be making millions? Of course there are many wealthy families who have worked but I'm not sure why people are so quick to judge poorer families but say nothing of MPs who claim thousands in expenses for unnecessary things, or offer contracts to friends to make money.

I live in a deprived area of the Welsh valleys and there are unfortunately people who don't use their money to feed their children ahead of their own needs or go out looking for work (I know this through work) but they are often third generation non-working families. If your parents and grandparents have always been in receipt of benefits then you have no role model to show you how to work and contribute to society. It is a vicious circle but it is certainly not the fault of a 7 year old.

It would be good if we could actually invest in decent education and tried to ensure all children started off with the same opportunities in life.

How naive are people saying "it's the parents job to feed them, they should do better" and "there should be another system to prevent them falling through the cracks". Both statements may be true, but also the reality is that kids can't eat "shoulds"!

The reality is, as many posters have pointed out, the free school meal is often it for these kids, we are in a pandemic which has exacerbated the issue and there isn't another effective system to sort out every chaotic home where children go hungry out of term time so as a stop gap, if these vouchers increase the chance of kids being fed, then they should be provided. And our politicians should either vote for them or provide a genuine alternative.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect parents to provide lunch for their children for 5 says, no.

It's not unreasonable, but unfortunately not all parents are good ones. Some abuse their kids, spend the money they get on benefits on other stuff. There was a discussion I saw yesterday, dunno when it happened though, but a woman said she worked in a supermarket and all of the staff had people coming in with food vouchers trying to buy alcohol and even plants with them. That's just beyond stupid, and I highly doubt she was lying to be honest based on how I've seen people behave.

There isn't an alternative except to take the children off the ones who really aren't even trying. But the system there sucks too. The whole system needs an overhaul really, schools are not childcare and we shouldn't be going 'it's your job to protect these children'. They are at school for 8 hours a day, the other 16 they are at the mercy of their parents. Doesn't take a genius to figure out which side you should actually be fixing, but clearly it does with our government.

I don't think anyone disagrees that parents SHOULD feed their children but the schools and the government are aware that there are families where this doesn't happen for whatever reason and have ensured that the child gets at least some nourishment during the week. I think that should continue.