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.

Universal credit has gone up £20 a week yet people in the middle like us have no help

People on the system of tax credits have not had that £20 increase, it's stayed at the same level.

How big of a problem is this? How many children would not be fed if it wasn't for free food in the school holidays? And if there is evidence of children not being fed then social services should also step in (alongside the children being fed by the school, it's not either/or).

@fedupathome

I genuinely don't begrudge hungry children being fed but don't believe it should be down to the state to feed them especially in school holidays that is the responsibility of the parents.

I'm not a high earner at all and my husband works in a supermarket, we both work full-time but aren't entitled to anything except child benefit.

People like us are struggling but aren't being considered. We have had no payrise yet our electric , gas and water has gone up due to everyone being home .

Our food bill has gone up both due to inflation and again the kids being home.

Universal credit has gone up £20 a week yet people in the middle like us have no help .

I had to buy a laptop as we only had 1 device between 3 kids.
I bought a very basic chromebook on my credit card as that's all we could afford and we're not eligible for a loan device.
What about families in the middle like us?

While I absolutely 100% agree that there are families like yours who 'fall through the cracks' I'd just like to point out, for anyone who doesn't realise, that not everyone on benefits got the extra £20 per week. My income hasn't risen, but my costs have. Just like yours. But, just to be clear, I'm not claiming its not for you, or that I have it worse.

I know in our school, a lot of those claiming FSm haven't had their income effected as they were on benefits which have stayed the same throughout

But their gas, electric and water will have gone up.

I genuinely don't begrudge hungry children being fed but don't believe it should be down to the state to feed them especially in school holidays that is the responsibility of the parents.

I'm not a high earner at all and my husband works in a supermarket, we both work full-time but aren't entitled to anything except child benefit.

People like us are struggling but aren't being considered. We have had no payrise yet our electric , gas and water has gone up due to everyone being home .

Our food bill has gone up both due to inflation and again the kids being home.

Universal credit has gone up £20 a week yet people in the middle like us have no help .

I had to buy a laptop as we only had 1 device between 3 kids.
I bought a very basic chromebook on my credit card as that's all we could afford and we're not eligible for a loan device.
What about families in the middle like us?

Unfortunately it's always like that

That was a reply to an earlier post

How big of a problem is this? How many children would not be fed if it wasn't for free food in the school holidays?

That would probably depend on who you ask, Beaky
Parents will probably moan about the bills - as we all do - but insist that of course they feed the kids and why wouldn't they, whereas the poverty industry will very likely say it's a national catastrophe about to engulf us all

As ever, a great deal depends on motivation

I'm on UC but my children are always fed and feeding them comes above all else. But it took 6 weeks waiting for a payment and i didn't want to get into debt by taking a loan that has to be paid back from the months money. Luckily i had some savings to tide us over but some people aren't this lucky. In crazy pandemic times the most important thing is that all children don't go hungry and imho that comes above any tory type opinions. People are struggling more now than ever before. Kids come first not opinions. Let's hope Rashford gets this sorted! Thatcher the milk snatcher now Boris the meal snatcher. He will always be remembered for letting this pandemic getting out of control, sending kids to school in dangerous circumstances and killing of as many people as he could.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Do you agree with FSM or not? It's not clear

Yes, I most certainly do ... but not necessarily as vouchers and not necessarily in school holidays

Why not vouchers?

Defra have been funding local councils throughout the pandemic with money to support anyone that is struggling--not just those on UC or unemployment benefit but those on reduced hours, furlough, etc
Some councils have been providing help via a money card, some have put their funding into food bank provisions etc, but EVERY council has been receiving cash.

However yours might be like mine in thta they transferred the money into another account, so it appeared ' spent' by the 12 week deadline, and they got more, whilst there was a nice public hoo ha on torys starving kids, and people in the community donating food from their own cupboards whilst said labour run council laughed all the way to their ' extra' bank account...

Absolutely disgusting and another reason I hate how people try turning a pandemic into a public point scoring exercise.

However if anyone is struggling, please contact your council, they have money!!!

People need the free food because their housing is so expensive. Food is extremely cheap and varied compared to the past, relative to wages. It's a classic case of solving the "easy" problem because no government wants to tackle housing.

@woodhill

I genuinely don't begrudge hungry children being fed but don't believe it should be down to the state to feed them especially in school holidays that is the responsibility of the parents.

I'm not a high earner at all and my husband works in a supermarket, we both work full-time but aren't entitled to anything except child benefit.

People like us are struggling but aren't being considered. We have had no payrise yet our electric , gas and water has gone up due to everyone being home .

Our food bill has gone up both due to inflation and again the kids being home.

Universal credit has gone up £20 a week yet people in the middle like us have no help .

I had to buy a laptop as we only had 1 device between 3 kids.
I bought a very basic chromebook on my credit card as that's all we could afford and we're not eligible for a loan device.
What about families in the middle like us?

Unfortunately it's always like that

I'm sorry for your situation .

But

You can't not begrudge children food then say you don't think it should be the responsibility of the state. Sadly it's one or the other.

In my London borough all FSM families were given three weeks worth of vouchers just before Christmas to cover the two weeks Christmas and February half term. This was from the Covid winter grant and separate from the voucher scheme they are/will be getting for being at home and not having FSM at school.

@Crystalclair - I take it you are surviving on UC? For me personally when I had to stop work due to illness it took a very long time for benefits to be sorted (actually still not completely sorted) so that I went through my savings and went into debt. That is what makes it so hard for me to live on UC.

Can’t feed em, don’t breed em!

Yes people loose jobs and things go wrong, but the majority of these situations are down to bad family planning choices!

I don't begrudge children being fed but I do begrudge having to struggle and not being eligible for help.

Just because we work doesn't mean our costs haven't increased. They've increased just the same as everyone else including those on FSM and other benefits.

Its the parents responsibility to feed their own kids and they should go without and put the kids first just like we have to.

@BumbleBiscuit

Can’t feed em, don’t breed em!

Yes people loose jobs and things go wrong, but the majority of these situations are down to bad family planning choices!

Can I see your research figures for that? You seem to know such a lot about the topic to make such bold statements- catchy tagline as everything.

[quote UndertheCedartree]@Crystalclair - I take it you are surviving on UC? For me personally when I had to stop work due to illness it took a very long time for benefits to be sorted (actually still not completely sorted) so that I went through my savings and went into debt. That is what makes it so hard for me to live on UC.[/quote]
Same here. I was assessed for the UC equivalent of ESA or possibly PIP in the summer as I am currently too sick to work. Still haven't heard whether I qualify or not.

UC isn't really enough to live on anyway. Let alone if you have debts.

the majority of these situations are down to bad family planning choices!

Please do explain which of these choices were made by the children involved?

@ghostvillage People on the system of tax credits have not had that £20 increase, it's stayed at the same level. if they claim wtc the increase is the same as on UC.

@BumbleBiscuit

Can’t feed em, don’t breed em!

Yes people loose jobs and things go wrong, but the majority of these situations are down to bad family planning choices!

Of course. I totally planned for DCs dad to walk out on us and fiddle his income so he doesn't have to pay CMS. I also planned my nervous breakdown so I couldn't work.

Ah yes. All those parents sitting there planning a baby 'here kev in five years they'll get sent a loaf of bread and a bit of cheese and a tin of peas for free. Up them stairs lad'

Happens in the majority of cases.

I know I had my four DC for the pot of gold each one has earned me.

Why not vouchers?

Apologies, I should really have written "vouchers as they're organised at the moment" - basically because it's too easy for children to see no benefit from them

I think it's very, very easy to sit and judge when you don't have financial concerns yourself. It's naive to assume everyone in this position deliberately set out to rely on the state or knew they wouldn't be able to afford children before having them - people's financial situations can change drastically in a very short space of time. It also speaks volumes that pp have immediately jumped to putting the children in care. How much do you think THAT would cost the state if you are quibbling over fsm during the holidays?? And I have experience of care homes through my job - I'll tell you know those places do their best but are not ideal. Most teens I worked with who'd been in care for a few years were either significantly overweight or underweight. I was genuinely shocked by how unhealthy most of the kids looked. Unfortunately kids under or over eating is exacerbated in care settings ime, probably compounded by being separated from their families and dealing with the trauma that entails. Far, far better all round to support children in their own homes with their own parents, especially when the issue can be somewhat resolved by what is, in reality, a very small financial contribution.