Free fruit & veg?

Spendless

Maybe I've read the replies wrong, but I thought it meant that the free fruit and veg wouldn't apply to people working and in receipt of child tax credit but to those on income support with a child under 5.

Can anyone clarify?

sarahlouise210

It will apply to certain cases where people are recieving the WORKING TAX CREDIT element of tax credits ..although the actual level of WTC required to qualify I am not sure. I believe the general rule will be if you qualify for a voucher for free milk then you will qualify for the new vouchers... many people on WTC qualify for milk token vouchers

trickytrolleys

Does anybody know if this has been implemented yet?

crutches

i was told that you CANNOT GET milk tokens on wftc only on ctc??

crutches

from

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/benefits/help_with_health_education_and_legal_costs.htm

You can get free milk tokens if you are at least ten week's pregnant and you are getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or the guarantee credit of Pension Credit. You will also qualify if you get Child Tax Credit but are not getting Working Tax Credit and your income is low enough. If you are a member of the family of someone who is on these benefits, and you are pregnant you can also get free milk tokens. A member of the family in this case is an opposite sex partner or dependent child of the person who is getting one of these benefits.



Free milk tokens are also available if you are breastfeeding a child under one, and you (or a member of your family) get Income Support, income based Jobseeker's Allowance or the guarantee credit of Pension Credit. Also, if you get Child Tax Credit but are not getting Working Tax Credit and your income is low enough.



If you get Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or the guarantee credit of Pension Credit, any of your children who are under five are entitled to free milk tokens. If you get Child Tax Credit, your income is low enough, and you are not able to get Working Tax Credit, your children under five are also entitled to milk tokens. Disabled children aged five to 16 are entitled to milk tokens if they do not attend school because of their disability.



If you cannot get milk tokens and you have a child under one, you may be able to buy dried milk at a reduced price from child or maternity clinics. You can get this help if you are entitled to Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, or Child Tax Credit on its own, and your income is low enough.

rammy007

Fran wrote:

But there again, you have a much better standard of living if you have a decent wage, even after the tax is taken off.

(If you have a decent income then buying some fruit is not a problem is it?)

In a lot of cases this isnt neccesarily so if you are just on the thresholds or just above when you take all the freebies into account(free prescriptions ,dental,milk,free school meals,council tax,school trips,fares to hospital,surestart grants and the list goes on we are just above this and pay for everything and really struggle

gravitytolls

That's us too Rammy. We have 7 children, and as you might expect receive child tax credits. However, I stay at home to care for the children, and only husb works. Our income doubtless looks great on paper, but our expenditure is high, even with a fairly modest mortgage.

We don't qualify for any extra help either, and I often find myself robbing Peter to pay Paul.

We do however, eat well, take Omega 3, and endeavour to consume the recommended amounts of fruit, veg and milk daily. We also endeavour to support the local milkman and purveyors of fruit, veg an dmeat.

rammy007

gravitytolls wrote:

That's us too Rammy. We have 7 children, and as you might expect receive child tax credits. However, I stay at home to care for the children, and only husb works. Our income doubtless looks great on paper, but our expenditure is high, even with a fairly modest mortgage.

We don't qualify for any extra help either, and I often find myself robbing Peter to pay Paul.

We do however, eat well, take Omega 3, and endeavour to consume the recommended amounts of fruit, veg and milk daily. We also endeavour to support the local milkman and purveyors of fruit, veg an dmeat.

Yes if you are just above the level all the freebies you get as i said before school meals etc are counted in your expenditure whereas on benefits people tend to forget these

jellyhead

i read about this in the birth to five book i got when my baby was born and i understood the change to mean that it's free fruit and veg instead of milk, is that right? there was some mention of not getting a free tin of formula milk any more.

moonbeam682

just read an article in our local paper today which says that the scheme has now started in Devon & Cornwall & will be extended to the rest of the country next year

Also gives a website which tells you who qualifies & which shops you can spend your vouchers in when they start in your area.

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk

hope this is helpful