Free School Meals Cut

[Kromovaracun]

http://www.theweek.co.uk/92272/children-to-go-hungry-after-free-school-meals-cuts

English families on Universal Credit have had their income threshold for free school meals cut.

Families in Northern Ireland have, notably, been exempt from the legislation: goo.gl/yxLWyp

Good idea?

[ToraToraTora]

"Not all parents are replicas of the cast of shameless ttt" - quite right but the WSS parents are.

[Jahulaye]

“have I accidentally hit on the the fact your are a pavillion?”

I like to think I’m up to date with cockney and street slang but cannot for the life of me decipher that one.

Who are the ss?

[sunny-dave]

I distance myself from the WSS description of people in receipt of benefits - I'm almost ashamed to understand what it means.

The vast majority of people in receipt of benefits are entirely honest and entitled to what they receive.

But a very significant proportion of them have been very badly served by being given all their benefit as money and forced to take full responsibility for paying their own bills - it is just beyond many people's organisational capacity to do the budgeting without help - and that help has been spectacularly poor/absent.

It was an ill thought out and badly implemented change that wants to be reversed.

[Jahulaye]

Wss even

[Mamyalynne]

The majority of Parents will manage this by cutting back in other areas of daily life - the evening meal,heating etc - of course some will find it harder than others and a few won't cope at all.

Someone mentioned rent arrears earlier, a big cause of that is Councils who can take 13 weeks to either start a HB claim or update one following a change of circumstances.

Landlords have queues of people lined up to take a tenancy and aren't patient.

[New Judge]

The function of schools is to educate children. It is not their responsibility to clothe them or to provide them with free food. Those schools which do provide meals should be paid by the parents for their services.

All parents with an income of less than £50k receive Child Benefit. This is currently £20.70 pw for the first child and £13.70 pw for each subsequent child. They should use that to feed their children.

As for different arrangements prevailing in various parts of the UK, please don't start me off!

[ludwig]

// hang on, ummmm, have I accidentally hit on the the fact your are a pavillion?//

pavillion. That's the first one I don't get.

[Mamyalynne]

I won't get into discussion with someone who has kneejerk extremis.

[pixie374]

I agree, nj. Also parents need to take more responsibility, not less. Help them to budget, but there is no point in trying to do it for them.

[ummmm]

TTT...you're a richard head. Get back to work!!!

[ToraToraTora]

SD:"The vast majority of people in receipt of benefits are entirely honest and entitled to what they receive. " - you want to get out more mate, there are entire estates of dole dossers out there where getting up the duff is a career move. How do I know? because that's where I came from. Until TGL showed me the way I too was in these public funded ghettos.

[sunny-dave]

Mamya - I hope I'm not in your gunsights? - I was trying to make a serious point about the way that benefit is paid having had a disastrous effect on many families who just can't budget effectively?

Your comment about HBs is a case in point - I think a landlord was more likely to wait patiently for a claim to be processed if the end result was going to be a direct payment to him/her - rather than the money going to the claimant who might then choose to use some/all of it for other purposes (however legitimate those purposes might be)?

[Mamyalynne]

No Dave you weren't.

I'm sorry but in many cases even with a letter stating the claim is held in a queue Landlords get very impatitnet and make tenants lives a misery.

Many recipients would also like HB paid direct but even then if a change in circs occurs it triggers the whole scenario again.

[Mamyalynne]

* apols for typos

[pixie374]

I think there is far too much nannying already, sd, which is why people are able to be irresponsible- somebody else will sort it out. It would make more sense to advise them. How are their children ever going to grow up with responsibility or budgeting skills themselves otherwise?

[EcclesCake]

TTT do you you enjoy taking pleasure in slamming the unfortunate as much as you enjoy trashing the English language.

[ToraToraTora]

They are not the “unfortunate” in fact they are the extremely fortunate, more so that 95% of the rest of the world. They exist in a civilised nation that gives them free everything. They contribute nothing and should not be surprised when the country decides they cannot be afforded any longer.

[Jackdaw33]

I too am stuck on 'pavilion'. Perhaps TTT will enlighten us.

[emmie]

it took the housing people 8 weeks to sort out a housing benefit form, resulting in my paying the full rent and council tax, if i hadn't had some savings i would be in the doghouse.

as to the cuts, not sure that its a good idea at all.

[ToraToraTora]

Pavilion Lounger.....