Why do half of children in poverty miss out on free school meals? (From Bournemouth Echo)

It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

alasdair1967 wrote:
It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

It frustrates me that people like you have no idea about what is occurring under your own noses.
Yet you appear to limit your sympathy for those in the third world.

"Charity begins elsewhere", apparently.

l'anglais wrote:

alasdair1967 wrote:
It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

It frustrates me that people like you have no idea about what is occurring under your own noses.
Yet you appear to limit your sympathy for those in the third world.

"Charity begins elsewhere", apparently.

Believe you me I have seen child poverty and suffering of children first hand as a result of ethnic cleansing these children I have seen in my life had nothing I mean nothing

alasdair1967 wrote:
It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

It frustrates you does it ?? Oh dear. You are certainly ambitious for your country in 2013 to only use the term poverty if as severe as the 'abject poverty' of the third. Being so poor you have to queue for charitable food hand outs not enough for you. Well I for one consider that if you cannot buy your own food or that for your children you are indeed poor and the increasing numbers in that situation is a shame on the UK one of the seven riches countrys in the world.

step up wrote:

alasdair1967 wrote:
It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

It frustrates you does it ?? Oh dear. You are certainly ambitious for your country in 2013 to only use the term poverty if as severe as the 'abject poverty' of the third. Being so poor you have to queue for charitable food hand outs not enough for you. Well I for one consider that if you cannot buy your own food or that for your children you are indeed poor and the increasing numbers in that situation is a shame on the UK one of the seven riches countrys in the world.

I bet some of the people queuing for these food hand outs have cigarettes in there pockets there is no denying that people are suffering but some need to take a long hard look at there expenditure and give up on the luxe rays such as smoking drinking etc

That may be true about adult smokers alasdair - but you don't know for sure (or which ones).

I can be as right wing as anyone BUT I'm not about to say any child should not get a hot balanced meal at lunchtime because their parents are really struggling or are unwise with the income they have.

This article is about children getting a lunch. It seems a bit crass to immediately blame parents (we don't know their circumstance) or to make a comparison with the third world....

For my money (and it IS a bit of my money), I think any child identified as living in poverty should get a free meal. I'd prefer to see that than a lot of the foriegn aid which goes into the pockets of tin-pot governments who won't allow the aid agencies to give aid direct to a suffering populace...

You have to ask why these children are not having Free school meals if they are from poor families? Is it a **** up with the admin? How much does it take to pass information on to the schools.? In the past, poorer children got their free school meals, and it was probably the only hot meal they got that day. Why can't we sort things out in today's " advanced" world? Get a grip, somebody!

This country is a joke I earnt less then 10 grande a yr workin when my kids were younger, but I didn't meet the criteria as I was not claiming income support. Yet people on benefits got more of an income then me

Actually Mole, that's surely about respect and confidentiality. These children aren't singled out by the state and identified by their dress so the schools will know.

The parent's will have a simple form to fill out (I'm guessing it's a simple one!). so it's about informing them of the entitlement.

Also / Especially, the government doesn't entitle everyone to a free school meal - even those who are deemed to be living in poverty are not neccesarily entitled.
The gist of the article is that the government should make sure all families (with children) in poverty are entitled in future.

Jaylo - I hope things are a lot better now :o)

You were exactly the type of person who should have been helped by a wider entitlement.

The government needs to recognise that claiming benefits is not the benchmark as to whether you are poor and struggling.

Many working people dont claim OR are not entitled to benefits and that makes them poor and struggling.

Just as SOME who claim benefits are much better off than their mates who work.

Divorce is the main cause of child
poverty, if a mother is deserted by the
father of her children and has also
been abused by him its hard to ask
for support as self esteem erodes
confidence.

alasdair1967 wrote:
It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

Yes, there is truth in this.

I think deprivation may have been a more appropriate headline as this has the requisite quality of relativity. Poverty on the other hand has the aura of absolute.

Ultimatley it doesn't matter what word we use - the fact remains there are children going needlessly hungry in the UK and abroad which is incredibly sad.

alasdair1967 wrote:

l'anglais wrote:

alasdair1967 wrote:
It frustrates me that the word poverty is used in these headlines ,true child poverty can be found in Ethiopia Somalia ,india etc i don't thing there is a single family in the uk in such a state as the children In real poverty living in the countries I have mentioned

It frustrates me that people like you have no idea about what is occurring under your own noses.
Yet you appear to limit your sympathy for those in the third world.

"Charity begins elsewhere", apparently.

Believe you me I have seen child poverty and suffering of children first hand as a result of ethnic cleansing these children I have seen in my life had nothing I mean nothing

Was this ethnic cleansing occurring on one of Poole's council estates?

It's all very well worrying about the Kosovans or the Syrians, we are all shocked when we see pictures of Aids in starving kids in Africa.

But unless you provide for the deprived in your own local town you are not better than the despot warlords that are creating havoc in other regions of the globe.

It's because, their parents can't read or write, or their parents suffer from mental illness that stops them being able to cope with administration, or they are illegal immigrants.
Incidentally, the kids with free school meals all got a packed lunch for a school trip this week and the others didn't even though they'd paid for lunches..They will get a credit but the point is that the children with free lunches can no be easily identified and bullied which is the real reason people don't claim them.

TerreHaute wrote:
Actually Mole, that's surely about respect and confidentiality. These children aren't singled out by the state and identified by their dress so the schools will know.

The parent's will have a simple form to fill out (I'm guessing it's a simple one!). so it's about informing them of the entitlement.

Also / Especially, the government doesn't entitle everyone to a free school meal - even those who are deemed to be living in poverty are not neccesarily entitled.
The gist of the article is that the government should make sure all families (with children) in poverty are entitled in future.

You guess wrong if you think the form is simple to fill out as you need to have filled out numerous very complicated forms to get other benefits first.

Yes and then you fill in a form confirming these benefits and get the free meals... This form as you imply is likely to be simpler then all the others.

The state doesn't have to apologise for needing full information before supporting people.

And help is available in languages and to support the less literate.