FSM/ food vouchers - being sent to wrong parent

[burntbagel]

Hi posting on behalf of someone with this issue (Reposted from chat in case here is better)

Their DC has FSM and they are a UC recipient. Vouchers over the holidays (I never knew this was a thing until now) have always been sent to them. The school has changed this and they’re now being sent to the other parent.

UC parent has child 50/50, other parent is a high earner not in need of funds. School have refused to engage when asked but have just redirected the payments. They then said they send it to the primary carer and not the eligible household and that whoever claims UC is irrelevant. In this instance there is no primary carer and always 50/50 over holidays and the other household is a high earning one.

Has this happened to anyone else? Tried looking at guidance online but can’t quite make sense of it. seems to be DWP guidance re eligible household and for the councils to sort it out.
Thanks

Following the schools logic using the high earner as the primary parent, would the children still be eligible as they would be above the cut off?

Oh I didn’t see what was deleted!
No they would not be eligible but I don’t think it seems to work like that
it seems that once it has been granted it is there for years, also the parents financial situations are very different - UC parent claims child benefit etc and has a much lower income
it is 50/50 care for the child so they would benefit from it not being changed over to the other parent (who absolutely doesn’t need it at all)

I’ve never applied for this stuff for my own DC even when eligible for it I didn’t really know how it worked unfortunately and the qualifying criteria were incredibly narrow when I looked to apply some years ago. And I never knew this was a thing until this has come up. It’s not an insignificant amount if you’re on a very low income / budget.

Why do you think the school think the higher earner is the primary caregiver - was the school application made using their address?

Is the child primary or secondary school?

secondary school
they have both emails

There are no rules on this from the school point of view. However, a strongly worded letter to the school reminding them of their statutory duty to promote pupils’ welfare may help focus minds.

if the wealthier parent has made a fuss, then the school may have decided it is necessary to treat each parent equally. But the child’s health, welfare and safety should be paramount.

I asked because I work in primary schools and I don't "do" the vouchers, but I'm heavily involved with the issuing of them.

If someone with more knowledge doesn't come along, feel free to pm me, and I'll talk you through the process in detail, but I don't know how secondary schools operate, so at best, I'd be of limited use!

I would say the parent who gets the Child Benefit should be the one who is recognised as the 'primary parent' - I get it if they are genuinely 50/50 but really the wealthier parent is not losing out so it's an odd thing to do. I work for my local authority and we always go with whoever gets the child benefit as the default primary parent.

What has changed to prompt the school to change which parent they send it to? Eg has either parent moved house or changed something on the Data Collection Sheet? Does either parent have other children at the school who have just started? I think if you can figure out what has caused it that will be a step towards putting it right. Hope it is sorted soon.

Could there be a possibility the financial situation of the higher earner has changed? Otherwise, if genuinely high earning it could be worth looking at it from a benefit overpayment / potential fraud angle as high earning families don’t qualify for food vouchers.

Thanks for your replies
high earning parent definitely still wouldn’t qualify no financial or other changes
perhaps they just have one main email and a secondary email address or something (?) but it doesn’t make sense to me that it would go to the wrong household especially when it never used to

I don't understand how this family are eligible for free school meals, just because the Mum is on UC, the high earning parent will be paying maintenance and is involved in the child's life. Therefore this family not in need of FSM or the vouchers.

Why have the school decided the parent not in receipt of the child benefit is the primary parent?

You usually have to apply through the local council for FSM so whoever applied should get the email?

@BelieveInYourElf I don’t think they should be either but it seems that once applied for FSM is quite protected and this child has always had them since primary school. They don’t reassess eligibility. It is extra ridiculous that the vouchers are being sent to and used by someone who is a very high earner and not the other parent at least.

Thanks for the comments
I don’t see anything that would have triggered a change

The application is made again when school setting changes

Ah ok in that case there must have been a new application
I thought it was transferred over from
the primary school for this child
either way it would have been the parent who originally applied (ie the low income parent)

The school may have changed their MIS and this may have inadvertently moved the parents around in the priority list. I would go higher within the school, as well as contacting the local council who issues the vouchers.

Who claims the child benefit?

FSM status has been protected since the rollout of UC - if a child has been eligible since April 2018 they will continue to be eligible regardless of the status of the parents until UC is fully rolled out. It's recently been pushed back another year.

The school wouldn't know who is the parent eligible for the vouchers. In my previous role I would have sent the vouchers to both parents if we had email addresses for them both.

I would be contacting the school to ask why I was no longer receiving them & if it was an error hopefully they can clear it up. If it wasn't, I would want an explanation.

I think it's pretty disgusting that if one parent really needs that money to feed their child the school misdirected it to a wealthy parent. Even worse the higher earning parent didn't send it on to ex.

I am divorced. When completing the paperwork I had to indicate who was the main carer.

I requested info was sent to is both, but I was recorded as main carer. I expect the vouchers go to whoever is recorded in school as the main carer.