Free school meals

NorthernAngel_2

Hi everyone

This is my first post to please be gentle

Ive just done an evaluation with "entitledto" to see if im recieving the correct tax credits, it has giving me the exact sum of what im currently getting which is good.....im a bit confused as it says im entitled to free school meals but my childrens school says your not entitled if you recieve both childs tax and working tax, does anyone know which is correct? im paying just short of £100 a month for my childrens school meals which to be frank are seriously not worth it.

sorry if this is the wrong section

Oh also i found out that i am entitled to £15 per week rent rebate which im not currently claiming, off the the housing office tomorrow me thinks

dlb

I think you can only get free school dinners if you get only one of the tax credits not both.

I asked and because i get working tax credit and family tax credit i dont get them.
If i had only been reciving the child tax credit i would have got them.

But if this is wrong i would love to know as the kids would like school meals but i can not afford them.

alidee_2

hi
afraid you are correct. you are not entitled to free school meals if you are in receipt of working families tax credits. only get them if you are in receipt of just child tax credits/income support.sorry to give the bad news :mad:

Becles

Free school dinners are only payable if you only get child tax credit.

If you get working tax and child tax credits, you are not entitled to them. It's quite unfair as it means very low income working families do not get them, while families who have a higher income on benefits alone do get them. I was in this position when I first became a single parent, and felt penalised for working.

Anyway, if the school dinners are rubbish and costing £100 a month, can you make packed lunches yourself for less? Forget all the cartons of juice and branded pre-packed stuff that bairns pester you for. Send in home made food, with juice or water in a reusable flask or sports bottle. I do that with mine and they enjoy their lunches. Have a look in the Old Style forum mega index as there are threads with packed lunch ideas in there.

raq

same goes for me aswell. I did try but hopefully by early next year we will qualify for it.

NorthernAngel_2

Thanks guys, i do make my children pack lunches i just like them to have a hot meal in the winter, never mind though looks like im gonna have to pay....bloomin robbin .......people

welshcakes

My kids qualify for them as we are on IS. Ironically when I was working, the kids really fancied the idea of hot meals with desserts however now that we are entitled to free meals, they decided they preferred mum's home made sarnies! I suppose it's a compliment and I know that they're eating well balanced meals. We have a cooked dinner at home so I think it's a good balance for them.

skylight

Not ALL those on CTC get free school meals - OH earns more than the minimum wage for CTC purposes outlined below:

Free school lunches
Parents do not have to pay for school lunches if they receive any of the following:

Income Support
income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £14,155
the Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

dlb

charlotte664 wrote:

Not ALL those on CTC get free school meals - OH earns more than the minimum wage for CTC purposes outlined below:

Free school lunches
Parents do not have to pay for school lunches if they receive any of the following:

Income Support
income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £14,155
the Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

Thats what was said before you only get them if you recieved child tax credits, NOT WORKING TAX CREDITS.

jellyhead

if entitledto have their info wrong maybe MSE members should inform them? but yes it's like that here too, you don't get free dinners if there's WTC involved, my friend has checked. you also don't get school trips paid for.

skintas_2

i looked into this at my kids school, you have to earn under £13,000