Labour supporters may be ignorant.

Sorry Trisher , meant Wilma

Sorry Annie your post is completely incomprehensible. Would you like to explain when and what you mean?

Was x amount included for weekly savings for Christmas Trisher?

Thanks Wmkf I think it is so interesting to look at how things once were. There is a lot made of how much money people get now, but in the past there was less money and more support in different ways, that's all gone now.

"Labour supporters may be ignorant". What a very nasty OP. Applying the CRAPPE test to the sources quoted might have been useful. Just a couple would tell you the first article does not stand up as a reference.

What knowledge is it that LP supporters are supposed to lack? Was it the fact that the writer did not only support the Iraq War, he advocated it. Was it the fact that he is a known critic of "Stop the War"? Knowing that would mean we could judge the likelihood of this man writing in a reasonably unbiased way - he isn't going to is he?

He has also written a book called "How the left lost its way" so I imagine he is hoping to get more buyers on the back of this article. Reading anything of his soon shows you that, like the OP, being personally rude is about the level of his argument - as it seems to be of some who have agreed with his nastiness on this thread.

It was between 3 and 4 miles from my house to the school, but the weird thing is it wasn't even my nearest school. The catchment area must have changed later because my youngest brother went to the closer school. I don't think it was even 2 miles away. I would have had to get a bus in to town and out again, but the bus stop was almost a mile away from the school anyway. I used to walk with my brother and meet up with my best friend half way which was fine, but it was miserable in bad weather.

trisher that list of things that the LEA had to provide is interesting and a sign of the times. I remember when I worked for Social Security on the means tested benefit section (Supplementary Benefit or Supp Ben) in the late 70s early 80s, there was a similar list of what the benefit was supposed to cover. This stuck in my mind because the cost of a daily newspaper was on the list. The important thing about the list was that in theory you could tot up the cost of the things on the list and get a rough idea of how the rate of benefit was calculated. In 1988 Supp Ben was replaced with Income Support (or IS) and a similar list was never published.

IS was part of a major benefits reform programme intended to simplify the system. It also brought huge job cuts - tens of thousands of jobs. I have always believed that was the turning point for means tested benefits and Social Security benefits in general. That same level of consideration of what the benefit was supposed to cover was never again even a factor in developing the new benefits.

Yes, two buses for me, or else a bus into town and a good walk out of town the other way.

Or my trusty bike.

Same for me exactly, two bus rides and at least 45 minutes to get to school.No free bus pass!

Free bus pass as it was two buses, one to city centre and one out, and took at least 45 minutes depending on timing.

it just felt like miles on a bike on a cold October morning.

I know it is now, hadn't realised the same applied in those days.

I just checked - 2.9 miles! But there was no bus even for those who lived much further out, we all caught service buses. Perhaps those living further away from school got a bus pass.

It was, and remains, a right that if you live more than 3 miles from the nearest secondary school you are entitled to free transport.

We were hard up but there was a girl in my class who came from a very poor home and I can remember her telling me that her mother was very upset about the cost of school uniform but managed to buy some second hand for her. There was obviously no mention of help.

provide transport - not that either - it was bicycle in the summer and public transport (fares paid by parents) in the winter.
School was several miles away.

may have mentioned it if that was the case

Of course we have no idea if people were actually told what they were entitled to.

Certainly I think we would have been told if grants were available and DM's friends may have mentioned it - but I know it was a struggle to buy school uniforms as they had to be purchased from a firm in Leicester at premium prices. Some items such as the dreadful gym kit or summer dresses could be made at home and blouses purchased locally but blazers, hats, gymslips etc had to come from the approved supplier.

The medical inspections bit went on well into the 60s and 70s. When I went to Teacher training college we had to have a chest x-ray and medical examination- fear of TB was still widespread.

Thanks trisher. It makes me wonder if the policy in my area at the time was not to pay the grant until the pupil started at the school. This has been bringing back dim memories of conversations (probably overheard) about grants not coming through in time. It was quite noticeable when the girl in my class appeared in a better fitting uniform a few weeks after the start of term.

I Googled this because I wasn't sure and generally it seems to be part of the 1944 Butler Education Act, which covered a lot of social provision for children. Of course we have no idea if people were actually told what they were entitled to.

The Act required LEAs to:

make provision for medical inspections in schools and colleges (48);
provide 'milk, meals and other refreshment for pupils in attendance at schools and colleges maintained by them' (49);
offer boarding accommodation where appropriate (50);
make clothing grants (51);
recover the costs of boarding and clothing where parents could afford to pay (52);
provide 'adequate facilities for recreation and social and physical training' (53);
ensure the cleanliness of 'the persons and clothing of pupils' in schools and colleges (54);
provide transport for pupils where necessary (55);
make 'special arrangements' in 'extraordinary circumstances' for children to be educated 'otherwise than at school' (56); and
arrange for the medical examination of a child considered 'incapable of receiving education at school' (57

trisher another glimmer of a memory makes me ask if grants were always received in time for the start of the school year? When I moved to secondary school in England at 14, I seem to remember a girl in my class who was given items of uniform from the stock of 2nd hand items given to the school by parents. She had to make do with what was available size wise. I don't think this was a one off occasion either, so maybe grant policy was down to the LEA?

Jalima1108 how would you know if someone applied for or received a school niform grant? They wouldn't have told you. I certainly had one.

Same here Jalima, although I think I'm a bit younger than some of those posting about this. In the deep dark depths of my memory I think I remember something about pupils who got free school meals might have got other help, but even at quite a young age I could tell those pupils came from poor homes. I do remember my Mum telling me that I should always be kind to them and not make fun of them. Even after I started working for social security as a school leaver my Mum continued to reminded me not to look down on others less fortunate. The strange thing is that looking back, I now know we were at the top end of the less fortunate league and that makes me appreciate even more how much she did for us children. It makes me emotional to not have realised this until late in life.

I don't think anyone where I grew up earned very much at all and I don't think anyone knew they could have applied for a grant for school uniform - no-one I knew did that.

You live and learn.

Poor woman must have been exhausted, two exhausting jobs , thank you Jen

Yes, Annie, and my dad was a busdriver, and they still had to apply for clothing grants for my school uniform.