Free School Meals - What price on bad PR?

[SimonMac]

So unless you've been living under a rock for a few months free school meals seems to be a hot topic, estimates say that it costs £20m a week to fund the free school meals, I know the economy is screwed and will be for years to come but would it be that hard to find the £80m needed to cover the holidays from now until easter?

Or is the problem trying to stop a temporary assistance package becoming permanent and the inevitable backlash that will come from that, similar to the extra £20 a week for Universal Credit that as offered during the pandemic.

[wattaj]

This was particularly bad optics for a government that pisses money around like a sailor on shore leave.

****'em, they deserve electoral oblivion... not that it'll hurt them much. ****ers.

[d000hg]

Ideologically, I support the government stance that free school meals means providing meals at school, not paying for kids' meals year-round. Lockdown and school closures was a special case because the reality is many kids genuinely do rely on those meals as their main source of nutrition - speaking as someone with teacher friends in very poor areas they can see it has a real impact statistically on the kids' school progress.

Pragmatically, it is a tiny sum although even then, it's actually more than is needed to feed a child. During school closures, a school near us was taking the £15/week and providing kids packed lunches - typically a dry ham sandwich and maybe a bag of crisps.

Rarely, Farage made a good point when he argued that if the government can fund Eat Out to Help Out, it's ludicrous they can't fund this. Worth it for PR alone.

[fullyautomatix]

Why aren’t the parents feeding their children?

[vetran]

Why aren’t the parents feeding their children?

Stella & JPS cost money!

UK Poverty: Facts and figures - Turn2us

Another way of measuring poverty is through the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ which is defined as how much you need ‘in order to have the opportunities and choices necessary to participate in society’.

• A single person needs £18,400 a year before tax and benefits.
• A single parent with one child needs £28,450 before tax and benefits.
• Two parents and two children need £40,000 before tax and benefits.

A single parent with one child is considered in Poverty if they don't earn 110% of the average wage.

[WTFH]

Caroline Ansell resigns as Government aide over free school meals after voting for Marcus Rashford plan | London Evening Standard

Caroline Ansell (Tory MP for Eastbourne) has resigned over it. Strangely enough the Torygraph and Wail don't consider it a worthy story yet.

[AtW]

Increase council tax appropriately and get it fully funded, sorteeed.

[_V_]

Increase council tax appropriately and get it fully funded, sorteeed.

Or ramp up IR35, raise some taxes from the rich!

(okay, that might not be so popular)

[AtW]

Or ramp up IR35, raise some taxes from the rich! (okay, that might not be so popular)

Schools are local matter isn’t it? So taxes should be local.

btw we will very soon see additional local income taxes - they’ll probably call it different to avoid negative connotation, say “solidarity charge”, or “local contribution” - base will be income tho.

That’s the end game for govt not willing to fund it

[vetran]

Increase council tax appropriately and get it fully funded, sorteeed.

Yeah because little old ladies should fund free school meals...