Wrap around care for those who don't work??

[Raisinsandweetabix]

Free breakfast clubs, afterschool clubs. Why would you need this if you are at home all day anyway? Another kick in the teeth to working parents. Obviously not including those in dire need of this care.

Nope. I love working with our needy families. You can see the difference you make. But it's very frustrating when you see some of our parents working their socks off in low paid jobs not entitled to anything and then the next parent comes in who knows how to game the system, and is basically one of life's "takers", giving nothing back. The system is wrong. If I knew I didn't need those FSM holiday vouchers anymore, I would either tell the school to please spend the money on something for children who DID need it, or I would take the vouchers, buy the stuff myself and donate it back to the school or to a food bank.

Is your SIL a lone parent?

If so, she’ll be subject to the household benefit cap, which means (if she lives outside London) the maximum she’ll be entitled to in benefits for all her living costs for her and her six children (rent, utilities, Wi-Fi, food, clothes, shoes, household items, birthdays, Xmas etc) is £423.46 a week or £1,835 a month, including child benefit.

Average private rents are £1,300 a month.

I’m struggling to understand how she covers all her costs, let alone affords a foreign holiday every year.

DD's secondary school offers free breakfast (porridge or toast) with tea for everyone who wants it.

The teachers realised how many children come without food and how it affects the teaching.

They pay the food and staff out of the normal budget.

And we are a fairly affluent, leavy London suburb.

I think you need to stop worrying about your SIL or you'll end up very bitter indeed (I fear it may be too late).

If working parents are able to benefit from these resources too, I don't see a problem. After all the true beneficiaries here are the children.

My child is in primary school.
Breakfast club is free for everyone but they've limited it to only 40 spaces and there's 360 pupils.

Our school has a free breakfast club for everyone, its in quite a disadvantaged area but after school club is for working parents only

These are my thoughts. Even without working in a school, it's obvious that it's going to be logistically very difficult to implement if lots of parents take it up.

There are more than 350 children in my DC's school and lunches are done on a rolling basis over an hour and half. As you say, if even half take it up, where on earth are they going to put them?

On a previous thread, someone suggested the classrooms, but surely that's impractical with transporting the food, having the mess in the classroom and clearing it away and surely teachers use them to prepare before the children arrive??

This was never about what kind of benefits she is on, or anyone else in a similar situation. If ANY child, or person, for that matter, needs extra help, then they should be given it. It was more of a social commentary about the fact we have many people who completely throw any responsibility out the window. At the same time as slagging teachers off for every little thing.

Yeah I don't follow this logic

You love working with needy families.
However they know how to play the system and are takers!

definitely in the wrong job @CurlyhairedAssassin with that outlook.
It’s not in your job description to judge get frustrated.

OK then. You’re absolutely right. Bang on the money. Hands up guvner. Where’s your brother/in-law?

But it’s the other way around. Wraparound care started with breakfast clubs because some families were so poor they were struggling to feed breakfast to their kids and expanded from there to what is known now as ‘wrap around care.’

Schools presumably can’t exclude kids of working parents so gradually it becomes the norm for working parents to send their kids there as additional child care.

When I was growing up, if you needed additional child care before or after school you payed for a child minder who gave breakfast/dinner and took the kids too/from school/

Really op the question should be: why do working families believe schools should provide this additional child care before any of the alternatives?

Although ideally employers would be a lot more flexible.

But how on earth does she afford foreign holidays?

Most people who don’t work and are benefit-capped have negative budgets, i.e. income doesn’t cover essential living costs, which means they’re heavily in debt. 5 million people are now on a negative budget, including 1.5 million children.

Your SIL will also be benefit sanctioned if she doesn’t work.

You claim she takes no responsibility but how does she afford foreign holidays? Does she have a partner?

Breakfast clubs take fees from working parents.
Not sure if all areas are same, but our school has limited amount of spaces in Breakfast/afternoon clubs.

Ahaha

To qualify for FSM you have to be claiming Universal Credit with a household income of less than £7,400 a year. How is that ‘gaming the system’?

On a previous thread, someone suggested the classrooms, but surely that's impractical with transporting the food, having the mess in the classroom and clearing it away and surely teachers use them to prepare before the children arrive??

Exactly-I’m in my classroom setting up from 7.30am as are most teachers in my school. having loads of children eating, talking and and playing in my room for over an hour whilst I’m doing this would just not be possible.

Many of my class resources and toys for my Y1 class are also MINE-acquired over the years from shops/my own children/donations and my class are trained up in how to look after our lovely things. I’ve seen the mess that breakfast club is left in-toys broken, mixed up, not looked after and I don’t want that to happen to my things!

I feel for you, but it sounds like her kids could do with some decent food and care from a decent adult role model, in orderly and peaceful surroundings.

If my few pence a day or whatever it adds up to as a contribution to this initiative gets children to school with a bit of food in their bellies on time then I'm happy to pay, if it's a problem I'll throw your few pence in too.
Children today are our work force of tomorrow.

I think it’s because working parents have to pay for the childcare, and non working get it for free! This is the case in my sons school anyway

Because I think it should be either everyone pays or nobody pays.

OP your family member with 6 kids will be forced to get a job once her youngest child is aged 5. It used to be for 16 hours now it's 25 hours a week job. Her Universal credit payment will be sanctioned by the job centre if she doesn't comply, they will make her attend regular appointments, it's not easy at all & they aren't nice about it! Good luck to her

It's enough to make anyone frustrated

It's for the good of all children, op, regardless of circumstances. I support it. There should be no questions asked and no need for resentment, surely.

I wonder, when people write posts like this, if they ever think of the actual kids they’re talking about. The real, flesh and blood, kids. Just like theirs. But less fortunate. Is this the society we’ve become? Where we’d rather kids suffered, so that we “hard working folk” can feel like we’ve got a better piece of the pie?

for fucks sake.