Free school meals - need the press to pick up on this

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Shameful

This guy is getting it, he gets paid £4.7 million per year! gb.wallmine.com/lse/cpg/officer/2041599/dominic-blakemore

BTW Dominic Blakemore is the CEO of Compass group, which includes Chartwells.

I honestly thought it couldn't be real when I saw it on FB last night. It's truly scandalous. Give the parents the vouchers!!

I don't understand why the government couldn't use/fund a food charity to create the hampers instead of a company. A company are always going to want to make a profit, the right charity want to help.

Logistically that might be difficult to get it sorted in time for all schools @sozzledsantax.

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells by the way, it will be the school/LEA that has chosen Chartwells to provide these hampers.

Our local schools are using a different provider.

It's total profit making from taxpayers money, isn't it - the budget for FSM could have been used more thoughtfully to benefit more families in need, more comprehensively if they hadn't outsourced it to a catering company. Surely supermarkets and food banks could have worked together to provide more generously, if the voucher scheme was problematic? It's the Conservative way - a profit must be made, and better a large one. I'm pretty disgusted.

The Tory Government have not chosen Chartwells to provide the hampers. Other schools have chosen supermarkets. The school will have chosen Chartwells

@Carlislemumof4

For £15 in Sainsburys I could buy (based on what my DCs often eat for lunch and some snacks combined with what keeps for a week, doesn't require a lot of fridge space, only needs warming through if limited cooking facilities, older kids could get themselves)...

2 x 6 pack fresh bakery rolls
1 x Warburtons Toastie loaf (to stay really fresh for the end of the week)
Sainsburys cream crackers
4 tins Sainsburys baked beans
4 tins Sainsburys spaghetti
2 tins Sainsburys soup
Block cheddar cheese
Pack 7 slices ham
Spread (butter or margerine)
Bottle no sugar squash
4 pint carton milk
2x 6 pack small petit filous fromage frais yoghurts
Pack cherry tomatoes
Pack Sainsburys own brand biscuits

Voucher definitely seems preferable.

It's supposed to buy 5 lunches for 1 child though, though, not subsidise your weekly shop.

schoolsweek.co.uk/childrens-minister-vows-urgent-action-on-pitiful-food-parcels/

Pictures in here are shocking. Lok at the CARROT in pic 1...

You can’t give parents the money because some will sadly use it to provide for themselves

Sorry, but that is a Tory myth and there is little to no evidence of this.

It’s so undignified for families. How could these companies justify cutting a tomato and carrot in half? This hatred of people with financial challenges has got to stop.

Logistically that might be difficult to get it sorted in time for all schools @sozzledsantax*.

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells by the way, it will be the school/LEA that has chosen Chartwells to provide these hampers.

Our local schools are using a different provider.*

Ah okay that makes sense. I suppose most charities are already stretched as it is anyway, it was just a thought.
The food bank have already had to step in to top up the hampers in some areas, it would have benefitted this charity massively if the government had just funded them to make and roll out the hampers in the first place.
If it's down to schools/LEA hopefully that means that the company providers can and will be changed as soon as!

Chartwell lobbied various councils to persuade them to use their services as they would provide better service than the also crap vouchers scheme.
Have a look at what Castell Howard provides in Caerphilly.

Where have people got the idea that it’s supposed to be £30 worth, or £15 worth?

I know that’s what they gave out in voucher form as a kind of short term emergency measure after the campaign, but that was a one off, there’s no ‘how much it’s supposed to be worth’. Free school meals is about providing children with a lunch each day. As long as these boxes achieve their objective and get children five meals a week, then the obligation is being met and people are just being cheeky expecting free money.

Unbelievable. This literally replacing vouchers which would buy £15 worth of food.

I didn't realise we were stuck in Poor Law times.

@IndecentFeminist

They have to make a bit of profit, that's how they pay staff to do it all in the first place. That is a bit of a piss take level however

Their profit shouldn't come out of the 30 pounds though. Due to the volume they should buy at wholesale prices and make profit the same way supermarkets do. They certainly shouldn't charge the families!

You can’t give parents the money because some will sadly use it to provide for themselves and not their kids, so it’s better to provide actual food.
They might eat that themselves and the children are still hungry

@TheFormerPorpentiaScamander

You can’t give parents the money because some will sadly use it to provide for themselves and not their kids, so it’s better to provide actual food. They might eat that themselves and the children are still hungry

Precisely. There's no way to legitimately defend this shitshow

Chartwells are rubbish. There have been numerous complaints ever since they took over the catering at my DCs school.

@NailsNeedDoing

Where have people got the idea that it’s supposed to be £30 worth, or £15 worth?

I know that’s what they gave out in voucher form as a kind of short term emergency measure after the campaign, but that was a one off, there’s no ‘how much it’s supposed to be worth’. Free school meals is about providing children with a lunch each day. As long as these boxes achieve their objective and get children five meals a week, then the obligation is being met and people are just being cheeky expecting free money.

Cheeky?! These are low income families with DCs going hungry. And the DCs are at home with a parent/carer for the foreseeable so the whole £15 (because emergency measures are needed again in this scenario) should go to the household. Not school staff or catering companies.

And if it buys Mum some teabags, biscuits and a few meals too (no most wouldn't spend it on booze and fags) then good, she's the one caring for and teaching them full time. It's hard enough being stuck at home all living on top of each other in lockdown with plenty of food in the house. Everyone hungry must be harrowing.

Besides which, those photos are not five nourishing meals worth/10 meals worth. Come on now.

This is what the company Castell Howell is proudly providing in Caerphilly

@Piggywaspushed isn't that proof that it is the supplier that is at fault not the Government.

Chartwells are rubbish, would not recommend them if a school was looking for a catering company.

@Piggywaspushed what you don't think people who are addicted don't already spend money they get on themselves as opposed to children? Granted the vast majority don't , but there are some that do.
You just have to live in the real world and see it , there are also some that just are not good with money and priorities who need help learning how , so need more than just vouchers or a food box

@Piggywaspushed the chartwell one looks good but then some may not have cooking facilities readily availible