Is a school comitting Fraud if they are asking parents to claim there entitlement for free school meals and milk then once it is awarded telling the parents there children can no longer have the free meals or milk as there children didnt eat them on 2nd day.
There are many children that are entitled but all on packed lunch sent from home. only paying pupils seam to be staying for cooked dinners.
Is it true that scholls also get extra finance for the number of children on low income families.
2006-10-31 04:54:14 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Primary & Secondary Education
a packed lunch is still a "free school meal" so no fraud is being commited
2006-11-04 03:32:59 · answer #1 · answered by Amanda K 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. I'll explain how this happens: the LEA check on certain days, how many free school meals were eaten. If meals aren't eaten that day, even though the child is entitled, the LEA 'assumes' the child is refusing the free food and stops giving food money for that child to the school. The school therefore loses that money to provide food and some (uncharitable but not fraudulant) link that loss directly to those who didn't take the meal, rather than spreading the loss over all the FSM kids (so they all get less money/food).
Utterly daft but true. At my previous school we'd tell our kids when the random day is and ensure they buy something, even a cookie. Otherwise (even though at the start of the year they're assessed to need them) our budget would be cut.
2006-11-02 09:27:49 · answer #2 · answered by squeezy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A school gets extra credit for the amount of children who receive free school meals.
The only way to know whether the school is commiting fraud is to find out whether the school (or catering company) are actually claiming the funding for the children who now have packed lunch.
2006-10-31 13:05:52 · answer #3 · answered by libbyft 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The reason that schools like parents to claim free school meals has something to do with what's known as the 'Panda report', this in short makes allowances for underachievement at a school for pupils coming from unprivileged backgrounds. If a school is underachieving, it's useful to be able to prove that there is a higher number of pupils from poorer backgrounds.
2006-10-31 13:10:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
From the sounds of the question, I would say yes.
Sounds like they want the benefit of your award, but not the hassle of providing meals. I would write to the local authority questioning this, and saying whether my child has been refused free school meals at the school, when it has ben awarded by the local authority.
I would first check with the school, just in case some rat pinched the childs FSM voucher.
2006-10-31 13:58:10 · answer #5 · answered by Tertia 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you live and work in the U.K., there is no extra funding for schools with families on low income budgets. In my area, every school gets the same funding but special needs pupils get a certain amount of extra funding according to their handicapping condition.
2006-11-01 16:16:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We received a letter from my child's school saying that if we don't claim free meals the school would be losing a proportion of their finances!! They even sent individual letters to parents urging them to try and persuade their children to have school meals.
I don't know what can be done about this?
2006-10-31 13:22:48 · answer #7 · answered by Lisa P 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋