There has been an awful lot in the news about free school meals over the last few weeks. The campaign fronted by Marcus Rashford to extend the free school meal system into the school holidays has been nationally and globally publicised with the government pushing back on the idea. There are so many people struggling right now. You might have thought is my child entitled to free school meals? Let’s have a look at who can claim for this and how to go about it.
Who Can Claim?
It comes down to households receiving benefits and the amount that the household annually earns. In England, Wales and Scotland children living in households with an annual income under £7400 and in receipt of income-related benefits such as universal credit, will receive free school meals. The cap is higher in Nothern Ireland where it’s set at £14k, bringing school meals to more children.
Parents and guardians of eligible children can claim free school meals at any age, right the way to further education. It’s worth noting that at the moment, all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 in England and Scotland state schools get free school meals during term time. This is for all infant school age pupils, regardless of the income of their household.
How To Claim
In order to claim you first need to go to the government website. This will let you check if your child can get free school meals. Then find out how to apply on your local authority’s website. Simply pop in your post code and you’ll be taken to the website of your local authority where you’ll be able to find out more about it. If you have any problems with this, simply call the local authority and asked is my child entitled to free school meals? They should be able to help.
My Thoughts On The Current Situation
Personally, I don’t understand the animosity from those supporting the government. Yes it’s the responsibility of the parents. However we’re in the middle of a pandemic where jobs are being lost left, right and centre. These kids are also already receiving the free school meals during term time so why not just ensure they’re not hungry in the holidays? All parents want to do right by their children but if they’re asking the question of is my child entitled to free school meals, they’ll obviously struggling.
People can play the blame game as much as they want. Saying parents shouldn’t be spending money on other things but at the end of the day, the child shouldn’t suffer because of the parent and many parents are trying their best in strange times right now. Not long ago we were all clapping for one another and saying to be kind. Where’s all that gone? Kids are hungry. Holiday hunger is a real thing. Have some humanity.
