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

Very harsh moondog

"Parents who don't care enough to feed their kids will almost certainly be neglecting them in all sorts of other ways too. Universal free school meals at massive taxpayer cost won't sort out the neglect and undoubtably high levels of abuse in such cases.

I don't mind spending tax money to educate children but it is not the job of the State to feed them."

Longfingernails so, by that logic, any child in the third world who is hungry because of the wars and policies perpetuated by adults also deserves no food? What you seem to be saying here is that the state shouldn't be helping children whose parents don't ensure they're fed? How very retro...

expat, we are also now the 'working poor' as yourself. school lunches for 3 kids £26 a week. or packed lunchesfor around £12. guess which my kids have.

dh works at the localshops, and has seen many parents of the kids at the school there, puitting food back at the checkouts so they can buy their vodka/wine/cider. its heartbreaking. i would go without food if needed to make sure my kids eat. i dont understand some parents.

"Parents who don't care enough to feed their kids will almost certainly be neglecting them in all sorts of other ways too. Universal free school meals at massive taxpayer cost won't sort out the neglect and undoubtably high levels of abuse in such cases."

Ah right, so if you are neglected in other ways, there is simply no point in getting a square meal? Let's keep food for the children who get good clothes and a stimulating home environment, then it won't be wasted.

Comparing foreign aid to free school meals is a non sequitur and a weak argument.

For starters, foreign aid is not given in the form of cash to personal individuals. Welfare benefits are.

If a person is spending welfare benefit money on their addiction rather than on feeding their child, for which the money is intended, then it's a failure of a) that person b) Social Services for not removing that child from their custody; not of the welfare system.

A pisshead or druggie is probably not going to be in full-time employment, as in order to keep your job you usually have to turn up sober and remain that way for your shift. Every shift.

So this person is probably on benefits and therefore, their children are still eligible for free school meals.

The OP was about the free school meals not being available to the working poor.

Well, as shown by several posters, they already aren't in some councils.

And yet, the working poor are still feeding their children.

Surely if children are being so negelcted they are not being properly fed, then the solution is not to just give em a free lunch.

There are too many parents out there, who do not look after their children well. Lord knows, I don't expect perfection. Good enough perenting will do for me. But having spent over ten years representing kids in the care system, I've seen the bad and the feckless in action.

It's time to move resourses from propping up some familes and providing these children with decent homes.

well litchick,you could be right...have just heard that more frontline social workers are to be recruited. so we will see!

I agree, Litchick.

i did go without food last year, often, so my children could eat.
I was working, earning peanuts. DH was self-employed man whose work just evaporated, we were not eligible for any help. WTC - no, because they go on last year's earnings, job-seekers - no, because he wasn't made redundant or sacked, just could get no business. It was utterly terrifying.

bread is £1 a loaf average now... that is hard when packed lunches and breakfast for a family of 4 uses almost a whole loaf.

75pence for own brand. cheape3r if u buy it reduced and freeze loaves.

same in our area too misdee, as soon as you work 16 plus hours a week therefore able to qualify for wtc you lose your free school meals. this has just happened to us

if dh contraCT WAS 15MINS less then we woud've still been entitled.

i dont mind though as dh is back at work and slowly working his way back up to hwre he was 6yrs ago

we are working poor too now. dp has got himeself a permanent job in a supermarket. HURRAH first job in over a year

well done sheepgomeep's dh . dh works for somerfield/co-op now.

yes, if you have a freezer...ours broke, couldn't afford to replace. Many people don't have room for a freezer. Ours was in the garage. Most houses round us are small kitchens.

try freecycle/freegle for a freezer. we bought one second hand for £30

How many kids get free meals & what is the meal?

and your dh too misdee my dp is in farmfoods now. He loves it.

if dh worked in farmfood i would need a bigger fereezer lol. does he get a good discount there? dh gets 10% at all co-op and somerfield stores, plus they have other benefits as well.

I get almost £50 a week in child benefit

I spend about £5 a week making packed lunch for the eldest 2 dcs.

I admit it will be more when I have 3 teenagers but it will be managable. Should I be 'entitled' to choose to spend that money on ciggarettes/alcohol because its the govenments responsibility to feed my dcs rather than mine?

If people can't budget properly in order to buy basics like food then throwing money at the problem isn't going to help.

blluecardi, dd's used to get lunch for free when dh was ill/not working. the meals there are really nice, ande cooked onsite. things like chicken, veg, potatoes, pasta bakes, lasagne etc. with salad cart and poasta bar. plus home made puds.

thanks for the info misdee - sounds a good meal. On the payment aspect how much does it cost to fund?

not sure, but for my 3 dd's, per week would be just under £26. am sure it muist be subsidised in some way. as its good food, but just not what we can afford atm, as packedl lunches are cheaper. also when dd4 starts school she will be having packed lunches due to her various allergies, so am just trying to get into a good routine,.

they should offer half price meals at least,for the working poor...

and who is going to benefit from them being cut??
mr tesco is who.....they will be advertising lunch box stuff to lure everyone in.

I think that family allowance should be paid in the form of non transferable supermarket tokens redeemable only on food and children's clothing - not booze or fags.

That way there would always be food or clothes in the house for the children.

Also agree that not everyone should get family allowance, those over a certain threshold can easily do without
As with other non means tested benefits