To think this is bonkers re food vouchers

[Jjacobb]

I think the food voucher system where schools give government funded food vouchers to families in need is amazing.
I know that these vouchers must be an absolute godsend to some families.
I'm a foster carer and this week I have received vouchers to the value of £240 again. We don't need the money. We tried to refuse it at Christmas when we got the first payment but the schools said that the money was already accounted for and if we didn't use it it would be wasted.
We bought food and donated it to a local charity for families in need as did many other carers I know.
But, I also know there are lots of carers keeping the food they buy and countrywide this probably means £1000s going to people who don't need help.
It's a stupid loophole and I'm not sure what the answer is.

No real answer, buy stuff for your food bank and families

It's likely that the admin cost of allowing people to "refuse" is higher than making it a "universal" benefit to certain groups of people with a box ticked.

Carry on doing what you are doing.

Think your doing the right thing. Food bank if you dont need them. Better too much for families than too little.

Better that it is available to all who could potentially need it, and have some donate it, than people miss out because the eligibility is hard to decipher.

Don’t the vouchers only go to people who are in receipt of fsm so I’m guessing most would be on a low income and in need. There may be a few like yourselves who qualify for fsm for another reason but I’m guessing it would cost more to go through everyone on a case by case basis

I’m not sure I understand why it’s going to waste if they are using it for the dc they are caring for thereby freeing up more of the fostering allowance surely ?

I know the system. It's crazy yet so many other families are really struggling and can't access these payments.
The whole system needs a radical overhaul.

we bought food and donated it, as did many other carers I know

There's your answer. I would think parents or carers of school children eligible for free school meals (who don't actually need them) is a tiny minority.

It would actually cost more to implement some sort of means testing system to this scheme. Therefore any child eligible for free school meals during term time is awarded the vouchers in the holidays.

It's great that you made the effort to donate yours.

You have to be earning less than 7k to get free school meals - I earn 10k
This is under the new system I think. Not sure the old system had such a low threshold so there are many on FSM until the end of their child's time in school also receiving vouchers, needing neither comparatively.
It is what it is. Just a bit galling when the LA has put the cost of meals up again - will cost another 3.20/month for my two which may not sound a lot but nearly 30 quid a year could go towards something else.

We qualified for the vouchers like you & don't need them, we also got a food parcel which we donated to a food bank, as ds is 17 I have let him have the vouchers to buy whatever food he likes over the holidays.

Families who were already getting free school meals on 31 March 2019 can carry on getting them until 31 December 2023, even if the household's income changes.

I really don’t think it’s crazy to send food vouchers to foster carers, regardless of income. For starters, it would be costly and inefficient to screen for income. More importantly, those vouchers could free up money for carers to provide extra resources for children who often have complex needs. Or maybe they will allow a family to supplement a foster child’s personal belongings since they often arrive with very little. Or maybe you will just take the kids to the zoo or the seaside or the cinema and really who cares. These are children whose lives could use a little extra joy.

Surely you can use it to free up some extra money for something else for the DC’s. Swimming lessons, a club or costs related to them perusing an interest or hobby. Also great that you can make a larger donation to the good bank too.

I got given a £90 food voucher by our local sure start centre because my child had a support worker for 4 weeks while we did a referral to a community paediatrician for suspected ASD.

Sorry but this feels a little like virtue signalling.

I also know carers who keep the food they buy By all means give to charity. It seems a bit pious to complain about those who don't.

It's considerably cheaper overall to just use a blunt tool, like fsm, to send out the vouchers than to use staff to means test people (and that would take considerably longer).

You may not need the money in the same way as some families do, but surely you could make good use of it for your foster children in some way?

This thread makes me want to weep.

Or scream.

Or scream while weeping.

The threshold for fsm/pp is so fucking high now.
The government's never done anything like this before.

Thank you amazing marcus rashford.

And you're moaning about being a recipient???

It's not just the family kids. Schools have a small (very small) amount of leeway to nominate non fsm families who don't qualify but schools know are in need.

This whole scheme is brilliant and amazing.

You don't HAVE to cash in the vouchers.

Sadly many, many families who qualify don't cash them in for various reasons.

Dissing this scheme hurts me deeply.

Sorry. Typo

It's not the fsm families

I'm really not "dissing the scheme"
what Marcus Rashford has done is amazing.
Children in care don't qualify for fsm but are classed as vulnerable because they have a SW.
Of course I don't need to use the vouchers but once the money allocated it would make no sense not to use it.
I would just like this loophole closed so all of the money went to families who actually need it.

It wouldn't be beneficial to remove any foster child from the vulnerable category.

On average, children are fostered by families for 13 months. It's often not a permanent situation. They could well return to a care home or be placed with a family with a lower income. The administration to keep updating the a foster child's "financial status" would lose this scheme more money than the present blanket rule and could penalise some foster children who bounce between foster families and care.

I think the small minority of families who don't require vouchers can put them to good use as you have.

I feel that that's so naive though.

I've work in local gvt. You want to get money to people who need it?
Say...
Money for oaps to put heating on when it's cold
Or
Money for people who can't work for some reason

There are 2 mechanisms to do this.

Either you say everyone within some limits (eg everyone of pensionable age) qualifies
OR you means test it. Provide evidence.

If you're a scammer, under both schemes you probably find a way to get the dosh anyway.

Means testing is slower and more expensive to administer.

So I understand why they're doing blanket "everyone who qualifies qualifies"

I'll say again, you don't HAVE to cash the vouchers.
Or as pp have said , cash the vouchers and use the money you save on the ch in other ways.

I kind of hate you for starting a thread on mn bitching about the system, though

Are you trying to turn people against the scheme?

The scheme is GOOD.

It helps people.
Vulnerable families

Sorry. My post was to op.

Xposted with @SmileyClare

Well, Ds2 has asd and has a fucking useless social worker but doesn't automatically qualify for fsm

@Jjacobb

I'm really not "dissing the scheme" what Marcus Rashford has done is amazing. Children in care don't qualify for fsm but are classed as vulnerable because they have a SW. Of course I don't need to use the vouchers but once the money allocated it would make no sense not to use it. I would just like this loophole closed so all of the money went to families who actually need it.

It won't though. People in need won't get more if foster parents don't receive it. The amount involved is tiny in the scheme of things, and that cash wouldn't be re-allocated. And as others have said, the paperwork involved would cost more than the vouchers saved.

Use yours for the foodbank or something similar. What other foster carers do with it is their own business.

The fsm system and holiday food vouchers is certainly not perfect, too many children miss out, and too many parents abuse the mechanism. There is a clear way to politely refuse the vouchers, I have seen it happen.
I wonder why they didn’t just stick it onto child benefit?