Who is right about FSM money

[gruffalosprickles]

A person has done the weekly food shop using their own money. The food the children will eat cost more then the value of an FSM voucher. They did this food shop because they didn't know if or when they would get a FSM voucher. The money spent will cover the children's three meals a day.

They then receive an evoucher for FSM which is to feed two children for lunches for two weeks.

Person A says the evoucher should only be spent on food for the children.

Person B says it's ok to spend some of the evoucher on food for the adult as well as the children because they have already paid for the children's food.

Which one is right ?

B, of course.

As the DC have got their lunches - as well as other meals by the sound of it - the FSM vouchers can now go into the family budget to reimburse money already spent.

There's absolutely no need to be pedantic about FSM vouchers, as long as the DCs are being fed.

Wow, no, please don't feel guilty! As long as the children are fed it's ok. I do understand the conflict though. Also, I'm going to add that - IMO - the money for FSM could be used for something else entirely if it benefitted the children... say for example it was bitterly cold, I don't see why the FSM money couldn't be used for additional heating, as long as the children are also fed. And maybe they're fed a bit more cheaply once in a while SO the heating can be on more. It won't hurt anyone and surely it's better to eat cheap-cheap and be warm? A jacket potato, beans or similar AND a warmer bedroom.

Unless people have walked in the shoes of a struggling family they will NEVER understand the choices that have to be made. At our lowest point we HAD to eat very cheaply in order to have extra heating. No one was hungry. It was very boring, but everyone was full. 15 years later I still well up at the relief of being invited to a food bank and the delight on my kids faces when I returned with bags of food.

I don't think you can ever really understand unless you've been there.

It does not matter as long as the children are fed, that’s the important thing

I shop at Lidl and farm foods as it's by far the best value for what we buy. Our voucher scheme doesn't cover Lidl or farm foods. So I spent my recent two week fsm voucher on some reduced Bath sheets from Asda that I was in desperate need of. £4 a Bath sheet. Cheaper than any where else and the kids are still getting fed top quality home cooked food .

The voucher is just income.

There is no right or wrong.

The idea is to safeguard the child to provide 5 meals.

Does that mean if you manage 7 meals you are also wrong?

The idea is to feed the child however you do it.

We don't use the voucher scheme and give food only

B of course - but when this was raised in the first lockdown in a thread, it was overwhelmingly A. If I remember rightly a poster asked if they should spend the voucher on family food as they had spent so much on printer paper and the like, which had eaten into the food budget. They had their arse handed to them by outraged As.

I was discussing this with the lady who sorts the vouchers at our school last week and she said as long as the child is fed an appropriate diet for them then it doesn't matter whether it's spent separately or knocked off the food bill. The only time a parent could possibly lose it is if the child wasn't being fed.

I did the shopping today with the food vouchers. I didn't buy separate food for me, I bought food for the whole family.

Same as the child benefit, PIP, carers allowance, etc gets used on paying bills so we have a house to live in, and can heat it.

Person A sounds like my ex. No point giving me child support if I'd already bought nappies/food/clothes/nursery on payday. I could wait until next month...