Free milk tokens?

doodygirl

Hi, my mum has a bone disease and she has to take extra strong calcium tablets every day for the rest of her life and she is on benefits what we are wondering is would she be able to get free milk? As she has to have a huge amount of calcium everyday.

PolishBigSpender

doodygirl wrote: »

Hi, my mum has a bone disease and she has to take extra strong calcium tablets every day for the rest of her life and she is on benefits what we are wondering is would she be able to get free milk? As she has to have a huge amount of calcium everyday.

Simply put - no.

I can't imagine that anyone would give her free milk in lieu of pills - why would they, when milk is a very inefficient way of getting calcium?

madhouse

I've never heard of this. Milk tokens used to be given to disabled children who were unable to attend school, but this was stopped some years ago.

Mojisola

Is she getting the calcium tablets on prescription? Can she get free prescriptions?

foxxymynx

The only people who get milk tokens are people who get JSA/IS and are pregnant or have a child under 5 years old.

[Deleted User]

And even they dont get milk tokens now,they get about £6 of vouchers they can use for babies milk/fruit/veg until the child is 5

foxxymynx

woodbine wrote: »

And even they dont get milk tokens now,they get about £6 of vouchers they can use for babies milk/fruit/veg until the child is 5

yep, it's plain cows milk or baby milk formula, fresh fruit and fresh veg SUppose it works out better really, for eg breastfeeding mothers, they'll be getting their 5 a day

Broken_hearted

foxxymynx wrote: »

yep, it's plain cows milk or baby milk formula, fresh fruit and fresh veg SUppose it works out better really, for eg breastfeeding mothers, they'll be getting their 5 a day

Its much much worse now as the token value doesn't cover the amount of cost of formula milk. Fine for those who can breast feed but those who can't are being put in a position where they might have to ration the amount of milk the baby gets due to being unable to afford it.

Damzel_In_Distress

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Its much much worse now as the token value doesn't cover the amount of cost of formula milk. Fine for those who can breast feed but those who can't are being put in a position where they might have to ration the amount of milk the baby gets due to being unable to afford it.

That is a very good point-when i had my son they were still doing the milk tokens..it was only as he was coming off formula they changed to the healthy start vouchers which are only £3.00 a week which means you get £12.00 a month..yet formula costs that week really.Atleast it did when my toddler was still on milk

But in answer to the OPs question the vouchers are for children under 5-at the end of they day why can't she buy her own milk??? I dont mean to sound rude but everyone else on benefits manages to dont they ? my son goes through it like no tomorrow!on cereals..as drinks ..in milkshakes...and hes a little chef who likes baking! Yes i get vouchers but these are used for the HUGE ammount of fruit he eats a week.
I think to buy a 60p carton of milk a day isnt a huge ammount to ask really is it-rather than asking for yet more government money.
Prehaps if she smokes or drinks (an im not saying she does!) then she could stop doing these things and buy the excess milk she needs instead??

LittleTinker

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Its much much worse now as the token value doesn't cover the amount of cost of formula milk. Fine for those who can breast feed but those who can't are being put in a position where they might have to ration the amount of milk the baby gets due to being unable to afford it.

The token value has never covered the cost of formulae.

It was mainly for a pint of milk a day OR towards the cost of formulae.

If women want to bottle feed their babies it cant be expected that the government pays for that....surely?

mazza111

Don't think so, you used to be able to take the vouchers along to the child health clinic and exchange them for a tin of formula milk, or we used to see certain parents buying their cans of special brew with it in local mini market.