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

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Shameful

@itsgettingweird missed a bit if meant to say most parents would go without eating themselves so their child could

Ermm. delicious it's a Free School MEAL. they can eat it at teatime?

That's an interesting way to excuse the company!

For those who don't know Compass (who are the same company) were the Turkey Twizzle brigade.

The vouchers are for £15 per child, per week.
Some providers issue them weekly, others fortnightly.

A lot of the confusion on Twitter was the suggestion that the food shown was £30 worth when in fact it was a weeks worth at £15.

Hope that makes sense!

I know that's what's being stated. But where is that figure from? Is it just because that's what the vouchers were worth? Or has there been some official statement that companies are being given £15 per week per child?

As said, I'm not making a value judgement. Just trying to understand the facts. Though personally, I think the free school meals issue is just a sticking plaster for how insufficient UC is.

I think my DC (at different secondaries) both get an 'allowance' of about £2.10-£2.50 per day to spend funded by the fsm scheme. So about £15 per week. I guess that's where the figure comes from, its roughly what the government usually pay for.

It wasn't Stealth : it was two children's allowance. So was £30 . Allegedly.

More pics here

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

@Piggywaspushed

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

Surprised people on here aren’t complaining about all the junk food it contains and the lack of fruit.

To be fair, they also provide fresh fruit and milk, not in the pic.

The ready meal bottom right are made by local Indian restaurants for them. It's all rather lovely.

There is no reason why people who live in straitened means should not derive pleasure from food.

I think you were being ironic though!

It's such a minefield. My initial reaction was to look at the bread and cheese and think "that's what I had for school lunch for 12 years and I turned out fine." But I came home and then had tea with vegetables and fruit and some snacks. My parents could adapt meals when I was being too fussy to eat what they were eating.

This is about children having the main meal of their day. There isn't a one size fits all approach because every child has different circumstances. So money or a voucher is the best (not to mention least patronising) solution. But not the most financially efficient, so the govt have gone with this - I seriously doubt that Chartwells have been given £30 to deliver this though. Otherwise govt may as well have continued with the vouchers.

Hmm.. Realised I may not have been clear in my post.

These parcels absolutely do not represent good enough, in my opinion! Just tried to talk through my thought process.

I used to work for chartwells as a school kitchen manager. Wish I could say I'm surprised.

When I was there school dinner cost parents £2.05. The budget for ingredients per meal was £0.65. And the shit I got if it went over that....

Private companies holding the contracts to cater for schools should have been investigated years ago. I sincerely hope it gets done now.

School catering should be run on a not for profit basis, by councils.