Free school dinners uk?

Question

why do I have to pay £3.60 a day for my 2 children for school dinners which I cant afford so my 2 children have sandwiches

when children on free dinners have a cooked lunches is this fair

Answer 1

whether its fair or not is irrelevent its the way the system works!

what a lot of people wrongly assume is that if you are working you are better off than those that dont. the reality is that even though i have a good job, by the time im taxed, have paid all my bills etc i probably have less than families on benefits have to live on. i think there are many many families like me out there.

i am like you, i cannot afford to pay for school lunches for both my children..they are scandalously over priced for what they get. I tried my kids on them for a while but my youngest son didnt like many of the meals, and where that was so, they had an option of a jacket potatoe with cheese or butter...i refuse to pay £1.80 so he can have a spud worth about 5 p. It is much cheaper to provide a nutritious packed lunch..and i always cook them a hot tea when they get home.

Answer 2

as long as they're having a balanced diet at home, sandwiches at school can't be bad. If you can't afford school dinners then why not speak to your local authority and try and get some subsidy

Answer 3

I too give my daughter pack lunches for 2 reasons, 1, I know exactly what and how much she is eating, and 2, I refuse to pay the school for substandard meals.  Why don't you consider getting your kids home for home dinners to have a nice tin of soup, or, put soup in a flask for your children.  

I do however think it is completely fair that families below a certain income get free school dinners for their children as those kids parents probably can't even afford to give their children sandwiches.  Its probably the only warm meal these kids get all day.

Answer 4

I remember at school some kids had free dinners, its if your parents are on certain benefits or unemployed usually...I guess its because the people making these rules reckon these parents cant afford to buy the stuff to make packed lunches, so they have to give them a free meal

Answer 5

I'm afraid if you are a working mum then you do have to pay, it is a bit of a joke, and £3.60p is quite a lot for 2 children per day, thats £36.00 per week, but may i just add that sandwiches for your kids are probably more healthy than school meals, if you pay for them daily then you'll probably find out that they have chips etc most days, with sandwiches you can put nice healthy toppings on brown bread etc, and yoghurts for desert etc... school meals are no good, as long as they get a good meal when they get home then they'll be fine, which i'm quite sure they do xx

Answer 6

To be honest, I would say your children are going to be far healthier on your own packed-lunches rather than school dinners: which are improving, but still high in sodium and sometimes lack variety where you can control what goes in a lunchbox to suit your kids. I say this from a mother and school teacher's point of view.

School dinners are expensive but packed lunches always rule the majority in my class. Usually around 8O% of my year 3 class have sandwiches whereas the rest are on dinners. Must go for something! Children on free dinners have their parental incomes taken into account. Making up a lunchbox can be really inexpensive and healthy too if you go about it the right way.

Answer 7

Free school meal entitlement is based on low-income families, why not see if you qualify? I wouldn't begrudge children a free school meal - for some its the only proper meal they get in a day and even with the recent improvements that isn't saying much.

Life isn't fair like that, why do I have to pay crippling council tax bills that I can't afford while people who don't work are exempt? Unfortunately that is just the way our society works!

Answer 8

you only get free school dinners if you are on benefits,

and to be honest your kids are not missing out on anything by not getting a hot school dinner as they are terrible.

at least you can give them a packed lunch and know they eating healthy instead of rubbish food.