Free school meals for 500,000 more children

Quite clearly, the government is trying to ensure that work pays.

I doubt if there are many (any?) families who are expected to live on £7,400 because they'll receive other benefits, including Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax support (and maybe some others), but these are means-tested. If somebody moves from unemployment into work they lose some of their means-tested benefits on a sliding scale. Losing free school meals is a big loss for some families.

There's a grey area between unemployment and full-time work when it's not really worth while working for financial reasons. Going out to work costs money (travel costs, possibly clothes, childcare, etc), so anything which can ease that transition is positive.

Cabbie21

£7400 a year is not enough for a single person, let alone a family to live on and certainly not enough to be taxed. I’d have thought they would already qualify on that income. Surely there will be a higher threshold if it is to include new families?

These are the current rules for eligibility for free school meals:

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

Income Support
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
income-related Employment and Support Allowance
support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

I've highlighted the last point.

Children of unemployed parents/carers are obviously eligible. The issue is when parents have a low income (but above the £7,400 cut off, which means that low paid, part time work isn't worth it for some parents because they receive less in support (even though they're working). This hits single parents, who are usually women, disproportionately.

I'm pleased this has been noted and efforts are being made to rectify it.

Good, progress towards being a “real” Labour government.

£7400 a year is not enough for a single person, let alone a family to live on and certainly not enough to be taxed. I’d have thought they would already qualify on that income. Surely there will be a higher threshold if it is to include new families?

Good. Never the children's fault that they don't have enough money.

(All quotes from BBC I player news)