A short thread on Free School Meal for those claiming Universal Credit

As the #COVIDー19 crisis deepens, parents who are laid off or lose their jobs are being told to apply for UC, resulting in a massive increase in claims

Many of these families will be plunged into food poverty, with no income coming in or savings to fall back on

Universal Credit is a passporting benefit for Free school meals, meaning that recipients can automatically become eligible for FSM

This entitlement is factored in

UC payments are calculated based on the assumption that any children will recieve a hot healthy meal in school

Which doesn’t seem unreasonable

However as the masses of new claimants are about to find out, there are two major issues relating to FSM

Firstly, there is an income threshold of £7400 pa, above which parents won’t receive FSM

My understanding is that many of the new claimants will fall foul of this and much to their surprise, won’t be eligible for free meals even if they succeed in their UC claim

The second aspects comes as a result of the 5 week delay built into the system

Put simply, even if you get through & manage to fill everything out correctly, there won’t be any money for 5 weeks

It’s a deliberate ploy to discourage short term claims & push people back into work

The government get around some of the obvious consequences of leaving people destitute, by offering an advance payment , effectively a loan, repayable once the claim is processed

But there is no system in place for advancing the FSM support, claimants would normally be entitled too

So for instance a family with three children, under the new voucher scheme would be eligible for £45 a week, £225 over the 5 weeks system delay

But they won’t be registered for FSM until week 5 at the earliest

So at the time of their greatest need, the family will be missing out of £225 of food support

That’s FSM that is factored in to the UC money, but they’re not receiving

This puts schools in an invidious position

Do they pay out of their own funding or sit by and watch children starve?

As the government abdicate its duty of care, it is schools who once again are being left to fund the social care

The simple solution would be anyone applying for UC automatically becomes eligible for FSM from day one

But this government seem dominated by fear that someone not entitled to a benefit might receive it

Never mind the fact it is food for hungry children, it’s 5 weeks of penance

DfE need to step in and fund meals not just for those claiming FSM, not just for the 5 week lag, but for a wider definition of food poverty

Failure to do so will see thousands of children starving in front of our eyes