To not understand the threshold for free school meals?

[AllTheBloodyWashing]

I am a lone parent to 11 year old twins who are starting secondary school this week.
I work part time and earn under £16000pa
and get a top-of universal credit, I applied for free school meals for my dc but it has come back and I have been declined.

I’m honestly so upset and really don’t know how I’m going to cope with this extra payment each week for my dc to eat at school, I’m barely scraping by as it is and have just used my last £20 to top-up their dinner cards so they can at least have something for the next two days.

so aibu to not really get the threshold for it, when so many families are really struggling at the moment.

This is from Kent Council website however the rules are the same in all boroughs.
@AllTheBloodyWashing could you check with the primary school as to whether they applied on your behalf? You may not have known they got them as you say the school did fsm for everyone anyway.
Our school has always asked for NI numbers so they could check if they could get any funding (PP) and schools like to make sure they claim for any eligible pupils as the funding helps them.
If they did have it applied for then they can still get it now.

The threshold for fsm is shockingly low. I earn way less than you and don't qualify and it's not just the actual food that the problem. Dd currently gets free lunches anyway under the Scottish government scheme but our school kitchen has been closed since before Easter for renovation so have had to provide packed lunches which hasn't been a big issue but being eligible for the meals qualifies you for so much more - clothing grants, holiday meal payments etc. those things add up and I was definitely better off when I used to earn far less and get the fsm grant

I’m going to try and encourage my youngest to have school dinners as much as possible as I’m forever trying to get her to increase the range of foods she eats but for the days when there is absolutely nothing that she will eat I got loads of ideas from a video we watched the other day on the feed your family for £20 Facebook page. Even with her limited diet we made a good list of stuff she wanted to have.

I've always been a single parent, always worked for just over minimum wage and never been entitled to free school meals even when I was on tax credits.
I don't think having one month of low earnings would work, I only earned 400 a few months ago in my assessment period because I changed jobs from weekly to monthly pay, but I obviously earn more than £7400 a year and always have.
As a just over minimum wage earner I do wonder if I'd be better off financially not working, free lunches, free prescriptions, council tax discount, no commuting or parking costs.
Now my child doesnt need child care I am better off but there were definitely weeks and months when I was worse off financially for working and that's not ok.
I don't just go to work for money thankfully.

The other thing that shocks me about FSM entitlement is that working tax credit is a 'disqualifying benefit', i.e. getting a top up to your income because your job doesn't pay you enough to live on disqualifies you from FSM for your kids, regardless of how low your income is. That's all kinds of wrong. And the fact that the threshold is different depending on whether you're on Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit. I don't understand it at all. Surely they could make a system purely based on household income with none of the complications about which benefits qualify or disqualify you.

Yes I know I didn’t qualify for that reason.

But the current threshold is so wrong.

When did they sneak that little gem in?!

I will give the school a call tomorrow, but I don’t think they did as I’ve never been asked for my NI number.

This is the explanation on eligibility so I think in your £400 month you could have applied as you didn't exceed the £616.
You would have then been entitled to it until your child finishes the phase of education that they're in on March 31st 23.

I agree that pack lunch would be better and less cost of school dinner. And is shocking that the limit is £7,400. I don’t see how anyone can cope with that level of income.

Did the threshold change?
Im sure it was once 16k per year? And this was a few years back when 16k a year would be worth a bit more than it is today.
Its shockingly low now

well now you know you don’t qualify you can send them with sandwiches like most other parents do after checking the FSM eligibility

Pupil Premium is driven by other factors including service, looked-after, post looked-after. I look after pp at my academy (also SE) and we have approx 15% students on pp. The FSM link is slightly misleading at the moment because of the UC transitional rules and forever6FSM. But applying for FSM for the first time the income threshold is very low. But a typical school meal for lunch is a lot less that £5. So take snack for break and stick to a main meal for lunch and that should be less than £3 (as no VAT is charged for students). The finance team at school will be willing to help with more details.

www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
may have already been posted, but here’s the link

They will probably be giving fsm to all kids this winter the way things are going. I guess that would be a lot of increased cooking costs for school though.

Well I wish I had know that at the time. Id feel bad claiming it because of one month, I got the month id earned it just came in the next assessment period.
Although I do earn over the yearly allowance it would really help to have, especially as bus fare to school costs me £600 a year, there used to be help for that but I don't qualify now.

They should allow kids to go home for dinner if they can, I always went home at primary & carried on at secondary until they cut the lunch break. My mum always had something ready when I was at primary, sandwiches during warmer months, then soup or beans on toast during colder months.

I'm glad you have pointed this out and I hope a seperate thread is raised on it. It was a friend who told me about this.... but I searched online and I thought she was wrong as all I could find was the £7000 threashold info.

I even went into my local Council and a member of staff was unaware of this also. I asked my local council to check the school systems to see if I was eligible and I even requested a letter (again hard work even to get this) the council don't seem to have sent letters out to those who are eligible! My letter states till at least March 2023 though.

Back to OP... agree its a lot of money especially if you have 2 kids!

I am truly shocked at how little money you can earn before you no longer qualify for FSM. My guess is there will be some kids out there who will go hungry this winter. Packed lunches seem to he way to go OP. They are cheaper to make than pay for school lunches. A ham sandwich , apple, baby bel and some kind of cereal bar one day and a chicken wrap, cherry tomatoes, banana and chocolate biscuit the following day and rotate. Refillable water bottle.

No this isn't true.

You can appeal if you can show that there is a variation in your monthly income, for example, if your average income dips below (approx £612?) UC isn't included, just your wages.

Instead of splitting feathers over whether pesto pasta counts as malnutrition or not, shouldn't we be asking why the government deems £7,400 an appropriate threshold?

I mean, Wtaf is wrong with this government. What do they expect kids to be fed?

Unbelievable

‘splitting feathers’ 😂

Pines nuts aren't nuts though? Are they?

Unfortunately in Scotland no such rule applies where you keep the fsm grant for a number of years. I lost mine for my 2 dc when I started work earning 9k a year in 2020 and my girls were in p2 and p6 so no transition years. Right in time to miss out on all the pandemic payments and the new Scottish child payments, the holiday meal payments. The clothing grants are now £100 per child per year the qualifier for all of these things are being entitled to fsm. To say I was better off on benefits is an understatement. Basically, on legacy benefit terms you still have to be on benefits to qualify. I.e not working enough to make the transition from reduced JSA/income support based on the earnings to WTC. It's definitely cheaper to provide packed lunches though. The pesto lunch was fine - no one is getting scurvy from that especially if decent meals are provided at home but if you're really worried for an extra one pound odd a week you could add some slices of cucumber, some cherry tomatoes. Some carrot sticks. Veg is provided on school meals but it's usually bland and over cooked. Very few dc actually eat it and at high school there is a good amount of junk food provided and many dc will choose that over anything healthy anyway. I agree they are a pain but my dc have been making their own since age 7/8 so I just have to provide the ingredients- cook up a pan of pasta or provide wraps (a good idea if the bread gets eaten at other times, keeps it as separate lunch stuff) cheese, one meat pack a week - once that's gone then cheese or pasta for the rest as you're right it often doesn't last the week, salad veg etc plus some cheap extras - whatever baked crisps are on offer sun bites etc. soreen usually on offer, bread sticks and hummus are very cheap. Value pack of apples. No way that's costing anywhere near what a school lunch does.

Malnourished kids🤣🤣catch yourself on fgs!!