Free School Meals - summer holidays reduction

[BooseysMom]

We have received a FSM voucher for £30 to cover the whole school holidays. What has happened to it being £15 per week?!

*who are on free school meals?

Kids in free school meals statistically achieve less in school, do fewer activities than others, have fewer opportunities. This money is meant to help restore some balance there. The summer school places are meant to help support these kids.

But you want that removed so you can be given money to take your kid to the cien

I guess they are phasing it out as they realised they can't afford it? The school meals are going down in quality too.

*to the cinema?

Sorry, but your attitude stinks. And your comments about you being the one working to pay for the free school meals kids just shows what sort of person you are.

No I want things to be fair and equitable for everyone. Have you not read my comment that I literally can’t afford to eat???

And providing some money for kids on free school meals helps make things more fair.

You're earning too much for free school meals. Giving those kids £150 to cover school holidays will not make their household income match yours. A few hours at summer school does not provide enough childcare for their parents to work full time during the holidays.

They are not in a better position than you. They have a few hours a day of summer school club so still need to sort childcare if they want to work, just like you. £150 does not feed a whole family for the holidays so the parents of kids on free school meals are also skipping meals or using food banks, just like you.

You're green eyed monster, "take from them and give to me even though I already have more because I pay tax to fund those slackers" attitude stinks.

The thing is, people may be earning a little too much to qualify, but they're spending up to £100 in fares / petrol to work. That hasn't been addressed by anyone, and results in a lot of people struggling. It isn't a question of working nearer home either, as these jobs don't always exist. This is why a lot of working people aren't very happy

This.

You have no idea what my situation is. But ah fuck it, maybe I’m wrong. It’s probably the hunger making me delirious.

Yes ours are.
DD has got a 3 day week (11am to 3pm) of forest school. I've had to take the week off work as A/L to get her there as no public transport, whereas when she's at home with her brothers, I can go to work!
Nothing else available locally and spaces for what is about are few and far between. But the council makes a big song and dance about the programme!

Our school holiday food voucher is £45 per child. Which is a great help, don't get me wrong. But 3 days of 4 hour sessions and a lunch doesn't help much!

I agree with this tbh. The people just outside the threshold for free school meals are struggling to now.

I get where you're coming from.

Maybe they need to rejig the council tax that funds this so people just outside the fsm limit aren't pushed into poverty by it.

No on said they aren't struggling. But free school meals kids are still living in more poverty than those above it.
The poster who wants provisions removed from them so she can have more financial support is not after fairness. She wants to push the most poverty stricken further down so she can get what they're getting.

But the people just outside are struggling too. The money needs to come from those that aren't.

@LadyCatStark why can't you afford to eat on two full time wages and just one child? The maths doesn't add up there.

@LadyCatStark I agree.. free money for some people not working and others struggling and working full time.

Enjoy the free money and childcare if you get it a nd be grateful you didnt have to earn it like everyone else.

How do you know the maths doesn't add up. They haven't provided figures.

It's not true that all FSM children are living in poverty. I get it due to being a single parent at the time of primary school registration and am now in receipt of it until the end of primary.

I was on benefits for 6 months and am now earning well and have a partner who earns a lot.

I think the threshold for amount earned should be a lot higher and maybe means test it again at some point as my child definitely doesn't need food vouchers/free holiday clubs!

Those not on FSM and working with a low income are most likely not better off than many FSM families once you look at expenditure, it definitely needs reforming

@borisjohnsonsforgottencondom I didn't know that. I agree that needs to stop and a means test introduced every year

I get you too. It’s really hard when you are earning too much for any help but still really struggling. Especially when you aren’t able to eat 3 meals a day.

The reason they changed it so that you're entitled for the rest of whatever key stage you're in when you first qualify for fsm is because they finally realised that kids/families often need more support to recover from even a short time in poverty. Things aren't always magically fixed as soon as the parents/care givers get a better paid job. There are often debts left over from that period of low income which eat up a large portion of the now healthy, on paper at least, income.

No solution will work 100% for everyone so they look for the solution which will (hopefully) leave as few people as possible in a bad position. Some will miss out and some will get it even when they don't need (if you don't need it the fsm vouchers maybe consider donating the equivalent value to a foodbank?)

For the pp who mentioned council tax... the fsm voucher scheme is nothing to do with council tax. The finding for this has come from the extra funding from the government and a certain amount had to be allocated to ease child food poverty, a certain amount for elderly services (not how it was worded but I cba to dig out the guidlines now) and a certain amount towards easing energy worries. My local council wasn't allocated enough to continue the £15pw but opted to reallocate some unused budget from elsewhere to make sure they could top it up

I see this comment all the time and it's ridiculous. What would you like these kids to do? Starve?

Some families (for a myriad of reasons, many no fault of their own) CAN NOT afford £20+ each week PER CHILD for school lunches. Granted, some people do play the system but it's such a small minority that it would be criminal to ignore the rest because of them

we’ve had the funded holiday camp places instead. It’s 2 weeks, 10am til 3pm, and nowhere accessible to us (2 buses there and back, so not actually free but £8 a day for me to transport her). Bit frustrating.

@borisjohnsonsforgottencondom The rules were changed so FSM entitlement was retained by pupils because of the UC roll-out. Pupils will remain eligible for FSM until the end of the phase of education they are in on the 31st March 2023. It is explained in here but the date was extended to March 2023 rather than March 2022 when the UC roll out was delayed.

Ah I see, makes sense for many others I guess. I just wanted to counter the idea that all FSM families are living in poverty, I have many friends who are worse off than I was even as a single parent. The system isn't great but as it primarily impacts women (I'm guessing), it won't change in a hurry.