So free school meals for children of low income familes to be scraped

[ruckyrunt]

and only if you live on unemployment benifit will your children get free school meals

Nothing like not giving any incentive to go back to work then.

This gives those people living on benifit another reason not to work and claim tax credits and working tax credits

it was proposed to give low income fmailies free school meals in junior school.

Its the children that suffer, the little mites do end up going hungry whilst money is spent elsewhere

its still for those on income support....and why only primary,we dont even have primaries here

Conservatives...

I saw this headline today and was just so saddened by it.

Do any of you bother getting facts?

All that is being scrapped are extensions to pilot programmes that were planned. No-one on free school meals now will lose them unless their parents' circumstances improve.

Gordon Brown left this country less than skint - hundreds of billions of pounds in debt.

It would be nice to have free school meals for all but we just can't afford it.

There are going to be far harsher decisions than that down the line. The books need to be balanced - at the moment they are £150bn a year out. Get real.

you have to be working to claim working tax credits thought the only people that got it anyway was people on income support/dla?

can someone clarify, who is going to miss out?

Here...

I think it is fairly safe to assume that if you are not entitled to any government programme now, you will not be entitled to it under the same financial circumstances for at least the next 10 years. There will be no extensions of social programmes at all except in very exceptional circumstances - indeed, all sorts of social programmes will be cut.

That's just common sense given Gordon Brown's £150bn/year black hole in the public finances.

do you read the post longfingernails - no you didn't...go back and read the post again and read the point that I was making and that i stated it was proposed to start this free lunches before you tell people to get the facts

Sorry runtyrunt, you are totally right.

But how do you propose to pay for the extension? There is no money.

chcuk - wtc and ctc if you receive both you don't qualify as the minum wage is above the limits for both the set amounts. So it is only the unemployed that will continue to get the free lunches at school.

and yes the working poor are being excluded for getting themsleves a job

less meals means less work....lose kitchen jobs.

bet dave gets his free lunches still though!!

I am not sure our country can currently afford to give all primary school children a free meal every day. There has to be a cut of point somewhere.

err we get wtc/ctc and considered low income, and dont get free school meals. so nothig is really changing then?

in our area, its only those on IS that get free school meals

if you get WTC at any level, then u dont get free school meals in our area.

You get £50 schoolwear voucher if your income is under £16,190

Free school meals and £50 schoolwear voucher if your income is £6420. I cannot imagine that this can be cut back any further!

So it is staying exactly the same then, numpties!

Well my child poverty report stated that

"From September 2010 primary school children whose family income is less than £16,190 will also be entitled to free school meals"

best change that then......bloody conservatives.

Shame that this is still true though:
Research has shown that children who are hungry or undernourished are more likely to not succeed as well at school. This is because diet has a significant and immediate effect of diet on behaviour, concentration and cognitive ability. The inability to learn effectively combined with lower educational outcomes which children from lower income families achieve means that the risk of staying in poverty through to adult hood increases.

Check out 2 skint for school campaign by the child poverty action group- depressing reading that there are still children in the UK affected by poverty.

I have enquired with the LA on more than one occassion for two differnet people - the LA state that if you get WTC and CTC that you don't qualify...I have been asked to call back agian and ask over agian - the same thing unless you only get one of them you can't get the free school meals

If your income is below 16,190 you are able to claime WTC - which is a little odd? why would you not claim?

I will say that if you earn under £6420 - that is a new one on me - but I don't think I have come across as low as that - is it legal?

Paying for the free school meals to the working poor - let the bankers pay? I wouldn't have a problem with bankers paying for chidlresn lunches at school.

I would also be extremly happy to see long temr benifit claiments back to work and there pay extracting tax and that helping those parents working and not claiming unemployemtn benifit getting a hand with there food - its not money in their pocket to spend as they like its is food ont he table and food in the belly's of children

no need to be skint for school tho...since i've been on income support i've been astounded (and embarassed) by the help you get

free meals
uniform grant
free laptop with internet access for 1 year
free bike with bikeability
huge reductions on trips abroad
subsidised music lessons

its too much

The children go hungry my arse.
Noone in Britain goes hungry.