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.

Vinyl

It's easy to stand on a soapbox and shout that we must feed hungry children (well duh). When rashford has solved the slightly more complex question of managing the budget to pay for it and deciding what else gets less money as a result and how to manage the impacts of that, then I'll take a view on his intelligence.

The real heros are never the noisy campaigners. It's not the rashford or the great thunberg
It's the mid grade civil servant who designs a food distribution programme on a budget. Or the scientist who invents a process for cleaning micro plastic particles from sea water.

@noblegiraffe many on fsm do manage though so throwing money and food is not always the long term answer, you must realise that.
In the short term making sure children are fed is right , but long term it needs addressing and yes some parents do need to step up, there will be the geniune few who really struggle and many making sacrifices but their are also some who need to put their children first , even if that is only a minority.
No goverment has given fsm in holidays and we have had recessions before , So its fine we acknowledge and try to do what we can , but lets not pretend this is only a recent issue, I know when mine were little I often had £20 a week after bills to spend on food and never even qualified for fsm , only as parents would buy us bits that we got through as no food banks , this was 2003-2008 .
So I think at least we have food banks now, while not ideal at least there is a safety net for some.
Some parents need more education on how to balance money , prioritise bills , basic cooking skills , all things that could help them for life.

@vynldetective there is no chance he will do that , he is mega rich and will retire nicely.
Plus he has shown he has passion for one thing as he can relate to it from his own experiences, and he has done amazing and used his profile well and puts most other footballers to shame.
But we have no idea what other things he is passionate about or what he agrees /disagrees with .

Some parents need more education on how to balance money , prioritise bills , basic cooking skills , all things that could help them for life

This is true. There are also things like income insecurity. I'd like to see a campaign for changes to zero hours contracts as I believe these are a huge issue. I understand they work well for some people like students but I believe the high risk and income uncertainty should require a higher minimum wage on low/no hours contracts. This would deter companies from abusing them.

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@vynldetective there is no chance he will do that , he is mega rich and will retire nicely.
Plus he has shown he has passion for one thing as he can relate to it from his own experiences, and he has done amazing and used his profile well and puts most other footballers to shame.
But we have no idea what other things he is passionate about or what he agrees /disagrees with . [/quote]
There’s every chance he’ll do it and I hope he does. He’s clearly not going to sit on his millions and do nothing for the second four decades of his life. We really need people like him to replace the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg. If the shit we’re living through produces the kind of politician who cares about social justice and has some integrity, that can only be a good thing.

I have no issue with the so called bedroom tax as if you are living in a 4 bed property and only have 1 child why should 4 bedrooms be paid for ? When a family squashed in could really use it. The only issue is a period of time should be given to be able to provide a suitable house in same area etc , although where I live if you need to downside HA you have a huge choice of properties,
I do think rent cap needs looking at as in some areas this is what puts people in poverty , but the answer to that is really to build more council houses and help get people in larger properties in to suitable smaller properties, as not keen on lining landlords pockets where £1000 a month is being charged for a 1 bed flat.
But no goverment has put enough money in to building council / ha houses and of there were more , maybe private rent would come down as well , but currently they no people have no choice.
The selling of council houses really helps people but it needs to be on a replace basis , which can actually be beneficial as often houses sold are old and need lots of maintenance , and a new more sustainable, less maintenance property can replace.
But the reality is no matter who is in goverment , they cannot fix it all .

@VinylDetective no sorry I don't think he will , why would anyone want to be a mp?
Also he is vocal on this but otherwise do you know what he feels about any other policy ? Yet you say you would vote for him.
He is still a very young man with a big career ahead of him still as well and being quite influential where he is now

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland yes zero hours is abused all too easily as like you say , for students etc works ok but for families you need to know basic income to budget.
Like sick pay as well I remember when we really struggled if one of us was off sick , then we were unable to even cover basics as when you just about makes ends meet a week of sick , would take months to recover . I would rather see some money when you work put into a pot for this and for unexpected unemployment so for short term you get a higher fraction of your wages as again,lost my job in march because of covid , struggling to get much else other than some temping , we had no debts in march , now we have several thousand as I was entitled to £70 odd a week jsa but only for 6 months and you have bills based on 2 incomes etc,

do you know what he feels about any other policy ?

He’s already doing better than most of the people sitting in Parliament. Obviously you can get a pretty good impression from someone’s passion about one aspect of social justice how they’re likely to respond to other aspects. For example, he’s not going to agree with you about bedroom tax any more than I do.

We shall see in a few years which of us is right. By the way, if I had my time again I’d love to be an MP, it would be fantastic to achieve some good and make a difference.

Even if its not Rushford I wish we would get some younger, working class succeeding in politics. I'm sick of career politicians from Eton and Harrow running the country

*Rashford

Me too @PodgeBod. We desperately need politicians with proper life experience.

@VinylDetective you have no idea anymore than I do what he thinks about the bedroom tax , which isn't a tax anyway , it just means if you qualify for a 3 bedroom you get hb for a 3 bedroom , if you live in a 4 you have to pay the top up.
My neighbour has a 4 bed ha house one of them works part time they have 2 kids so she has to top up her rent as she only entitled to a 3 bed , could easily swap to a 3 .
I have a 3 at one point was only entitled to a 3 , but as I pay full rent it makes no difference .
Why do you think people should get hb for a 4 bed if they only need a two ?

@VinylDetective also easy to be ok on one policy , there are lots of policies and even mp's in a party may not agree with every policy. In fact many don't they just agree with them in general.

[quote Chel098]@mylittletree yes I agree with there should be some sort of provision. I don’t think schools should be expected to do it though teachers are not social workers.[/quote]
Chels098
It isn't teachers who do it

I'm really not getting the point of some of your posts.

Do you agree with FSM or not?

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

I’m really hoping that Rashford makes his second career in politics, he’s exactly the kind of person we need.

Are you joking? There's a big difference between campaigning about an issue and being the actual person who provides & implements actual solutions.

Do you think the MPs and current government are doing q good job of providing and implementing solutions?

There's a big difference between campaigning about an issue and being the actual person who provides & implements actual solutions

Very true
And with the caveat that the alleged source looks pretty good but I still don't know how true it is, there's this from somebody called "Pat condell - Reloaded" on Facebook:

"Marcus Rashford paid himself just under £5k from his multi million pound company MUCS Enterprise LTD ... then gave himself a £950,000 directors loan"
"This means he avoids paying tax on that £950,000 and just pays tax on the £4950"
"The Man U money is split into Image rights, sponsorship etc and paid to an off shore account avoiding massive UK tax bills. So while he bangs on about what we should be doing with your tax money maybe he should pay his tax money to the UK Government so they can fund free school meals during holidays"

"Info from Companies house public records"

@Puzzledandpissedoff

There's a big difference between campaigning about an issue and being the actual person who provides & implements actual solutions

Very true
And with the caveat that the alleged source looks pretty good but I still don't know how true it is, there's this from somebody called "Pat condell - Reloaded" on Facebook:

"Marcus Rashford paid himself just under £5k from his multi million pound company MUCS Enterprise LTD ... then gave himself a £950,000 directors loan"
"This means he avoids paying tax on that £950,000 and just pays tax on the £4950"
"The Man U money is split into Image rights, sponsorship etc and paid to an off shore account avoiding massive UK tax bills. So while he bangs on about what we should be doing with your tax money maybe he should pay his tax money to the UK Government so they can fund free school meals during holidays"

"Info from Companies house public records"

Yes that is true, you just have to type his name into Companies House and click on his Investment and Development companies to see the accounts.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

There's a big difference between campaigning about an issue and being the actual person who provides & implements actual solutions

Very true
And with the caveat that the alleged source looks pretty good but I still don't know how true it is, there's this from somebody called "Pat condell - Reloaded" on Facebook:

"Marcus Rashford paid himself just under £5k from his multi million pound company MUCS Enterprise LTD ... then gave himself a £950,000 directors loan"
"This means he avoids paying tax on that £950,000 and just pays tax on the £4950"
"The Man U money is split into Image rights, sponsorship etc and paid to an off shore account avoiding massive UK tax bills. So while he bangs on about what we should be doing with your tax money maybe he should pay his tax money to the UK Government so they can fund free school meals during holidays"

"Info from Companies house public records"

Because people in government don't do the same

Footballers and celebrities don't pay half their salaries into tax, although I think they should. If they do, they won't be as rich as they are and their jobs won't be as alluring. If they kick a ball well enough they will go onto coach/manage after they retire from playing and their lives are cushty for several generations to come. The rich keep their money and profit very well from the very system they speak against ,and the middle earners fund the poor. The middle earners are screwed from the top and the bottom.

The people in government may do the same, but they don't go on being hollier than thou .

@Thephantom

The people in government may do the same, but they don't go on being hollier than thou .

Marcus isn't holier than thou.

But you are having a laugh. You don't think the government behave as if they are above the law? And do everything by the book?

Matt Hancock was on Piers Morgan a couple of days ago stumbling about trying to find words about FSM and how pleased he was we had fixed it for tbese children faced with the reality that he doesn't care.

Nothing will ever be right or enough

Quite

Because people in government don't do the same

Of course they do; in fact the government's stuffed with them, but it's entirely possible to care about more than one thing at a time ... otherwise it risks looking like pure whataboutery