To ask why do people not working claiming FSM get this for free?

[Sprinkledusting]

I’ve just discovered if you claim FSM and even if you’re not working, you can send your child to morning/after school club for free. And not just in our school either.
There are also sports clubs and holiday clubs during school holidays that state they are free for those who claim FSM. To claim free school meals your income has to be so low that you’re not working full time or not working at all, which of the people I know, most are not.
But those who are working have to pay for breakfast club/holiday clubs.

Can someone explain to me the logic behind this? As I simply don’t understand it.

You're absolutely not an awful person and I think people are wilfully missing your point which I think is that you're sad your son is missing out. I totally understand because I'm in the same position. I have a good job, £40,000 but with the current economic climate I'm barely managing.
I don't grudge anyone any help and fully endorse vulnerable children being given every help possible but that doesn't mean I can't feel frustrated that my son is missing out. Mudding out financially and of my time because I work and for what?!
I work in residential child care, I'm only too aware of the outcomes for vulnerable children and even with incredible amounts of support their physical, emotional and long-term outcomes are very very poor. Broken Britain

I feel for you OP and I absolutely understand your frustration. I was in a similar situation in the early 90's when interest rates were sky high and it was a nightmare. Having a mortgage is not the huge 'privilege'some on here make it out to be.

There are five children in my class who qualify for fsm. Out of the five, four have seriously challenging situations at home. The fifth seems to have a safe and happy home, albeit very tight finances.

I have organised free holiday club places for those four so that I can guarantee they will have opportunities to play safely, have positive social interactions with other children and be fed and warm. They will also be seen by an adult each day which I think is crucial for two of them. If the other child on FSM’s adult decides to put their child in the club, they will be entitled to a place too. The rules that allow these places to be funded means that sometimes, children who may not be quite so needy also get free places.

Life is unfair, but trust me, the lives some of these kids (not all) have are nothing to be jealous of.

As another aside, I have, in the past, organised breakfast clubs and holiday clubs for children who haven’t qualified for FSMs but their parents had come to me in need of help. If you think this applies to you, speak to your school.

This is inaccurate. But understandable given the situation over the last few years.
Generally:

1. Once you have been FSM, you are reassessed for eligibility at least once a year (could be more). If you are no longer eligible you stop receiving FSM
2. The school receives the pupil premium funding for all children who receive FSM plus any child who has received FSM for any time over the last 6 years. This is called the Ever6 payment. The reason for this is that research has shown even just a temporary eligibility for FSM can impact on a child's social mobility, so it is appropriate to give the school extra funding for a period of 6 years after their eligibility ends

Recently:
Due to the role out of Universal credit the government suspended the reassessment of eligibility (1) above until March 23 (it was initially March 22, but the UC roll-out took longer than planned). This was to protect vulnerable children and to ensure FSM were available just in case

So, no, you don;t just "keep" FSM forever. The keeping for longer than possibly needed is only due to the exception above.

In my area the HAF activities weren't fully taken up, if you go along with your child and they aren't full they will allow your child to join. We found this out when there was a activity set up near park with no one on and I went to ask.
Our LA publish the activities on Facebook so you could always contact and ask if it's the same?

Mumsnet is so dramatic sometimes.

OPs neighbours are dysfunctional, unstable people who can't feed their kids or provide them with "warm spaces" or "safe adults"

Whereas OP (on just slightly more money) is wildly privileged and should be grateful.

Fucks sake.

Yes: There should be free after-school clubs. Yes: The cut off point should be raised so OP can make use of them.

That wasn't so difficult was it?

Beezkneez me neither. As I said in my first post she's abused the system.
I did wander how school felt when she returned in January with a sun kissed face yet they'd delivered food parcels and bought her clothes just the month before.
I've no idea how but that's what's happened, and yes I'm jealous as I've struggled on my own and paid for school dinners and breakfast club. But for those who really do need it I suspect it's gratefully received. It's a shame my view has been clouded

It’s for the children, not the parents.
It would be like me judging YOU for taking benefits that I pay for.
Never claimed a penny, high earner, WC background so everything Inhave I have earned myself…

But I don’t. I don’t because that’s what taxes are for - and for every person taking the piss with the system there are a thousand families who really. We’d help.

And as someone with a similarly age child to her I had to work a minimum of 16 hours when DC turned 5 even under the old tax credits system so not sure why those rules wouldn't have applied to her too, tell me?

My dc get FSM but we don't get free breakfast club/after school club and I have to pay for that.
They do get free holiday club during Christmas/easter and summer (not this week for half term though). It's not just about the cost of holiday activities and clubs, but a lot of deprived homes, they don't have a car and it very much limits where the children can go. I live a 20minute drive from the beach but some local children will have never been, or the local farms or the zoos etc. it's not just the entry fee, but the accessibility. The holiday clubs are just one way to close that gap.
But yes, not all those who are eligible come from unstable, deprived backgrounds. Mine are eligible because I've recently become a single parent (marriage breakdown) whilst in the middle of university study which requires 4days a week on placement (hence having to pay for breakfast and after school club). Once I graduate in the summer I'll be able to have a good, well paying career, however I believe my dc remain eligible for fsm until they finish "their current stage of education". So until they finish primary school

Of course it makes sense.

You are presuming low earners have never been high earners and vice versa. Or that they never will again. Shit happens, life can change in an instant. It can also change back again.

Stop putting people in little boxes and presuming there is no movement.

It sounds OP like you’re just above the threshold which is where the resentment always lies, and I can understand. When DHs salary went just above the threshold for child benefit it was a real pain as money was still tight and it felt unfair. Likewise when others get benefits that you aren’t able to get despite struggling it seems unfair.
The threshold for free school means is so painfully low. If you have so little money that the state is effectively saying you cannot afford to feed or entertain your child at any point whether term time or not then that’s not a position to be envied.

You don’t work full time- you work school hours term time only.

Try being in pain 24/7 and being so fatigued you have to sleep for hours every afternoon, well trying to sleep while being woken multiple times with pain. Plus being skint so you can’t take your children on days out etc. Believe me I’d rather be going to work, doing the job I trained for for years.
I also had to sell my home because I couldn’t afford the mortgage anymore. My children might get free school meals but there is virtually no help with mortgage payments available.
Still think you should be jealous?

You don't have to work 30 hours as long as you earn a certain amount. Unfortunately that means the lower paid parents on MW will be the ones having to work longer hours to do it. However if they are in a couple and together/or one of them earns over £1083 a month they will be in light touch group.

It pisses me off. Why can't it be universal, it just makes people bitter.

Because someone has to foot the bill and we have lots of other bills, ya know like schools , and hospitals and police and stuff. We don’t just have an endless pot of money to pay for the population.

there will always be a threshold and there will always be those over that threshold with their hands out.

But then they wouldn’t be eligible for FSM because they’d earn over £8000 a year. So the person in this example must have called below that at some point and now must still be getting them because it carries on until the kids leave that stage of school.

Yeah, I said that after. Let's be real though, not many people will have part time jobs that pay well enough to allow them to only work a few hours a week.

I haven’t read this whole thread, but I can’t believe the volume of people that have children that can’t afford them. IMO the taxpayer should not be cleaning up your shortcomings as a parent indefinitely.

Agree with this, the criteria needs changed. It's the middle earners/people who work that miss out and get literally nothing in the way of help.

Honestly, don't waste your time. A good percentage of the cheating benefit claimants talked about on MN are pure fantasy.

I don't think they are bothered about checking eligibility so when mine goes into year three I will sign them up again.

Agreed. People who have never thankfully had to claim so they don't actually have a clue how it works and just parrot stuff they've heard online.

Regarding the HAF schemes, they are primarily set up for children on free school meals but if all of the places aren't taken they will open them up to everyone. It's worth filling in the form or giving them a ring when they advertise a holiday club because in my area the places often aren't all taken because the demographic they're aimed at don't always engage.