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A couple of thoughts on #FreeSchoolMeals from a personal perspective.
When my wife died I was just shy of my 45th birthday with 2 young children to look after.
Because I was < 45 and had kids I qualified for Widowed Parents Allowance. This was payable until my kids left school.
When my wife died I was just shy of my 45th birthday with 2 young children to look after.
Because I was < 45 and had kids I qualified for Widowed Parents Allowance. This was payable until my kids left school.
This is a wonderful benefit. It has allowed me to re-assess my career so that I can spend more time with my kids. Time that will hopefully mean that they are better prepared for life without their Mum, and also helps me because I benefit from being around them.
My age mattered though. If I had hit 45 before she died, then I would have received a Bereavement Allowance - for a maximum of 52 weeks.
Two young kids, one barely started school, would have had me full time for a year, then it's likely I would have had to take on a full time
Two young kids, one barely started school, would have had me full time for a year, then it's likely I would have had to take on a full time
role again, in an industry where there isn't a lot of time for family.
What damage could that have caused my family?
So I am hugely grateful to be in receipt of Widowed Parents Allowance. But there is a catch......
It doesn't exist anymore. It was done away with in 2017.
What damage could that have caused my family?
So I am hugely grateful to be in receipt of Widowed Parents Allowance. But there is a catch......
It doesn't exist anymore. It was done away with in 2017.
Since then it has become the Bereavement Support Payment. This is payable for a maximum of 18 months.
18 months of government support sounds a lot - and it is. But when you are supporting young children grieving the loss of a parent it goes by in the blink of an eye.
18 months of government support sounds a lot - and it is. But when you are supporting young children grieving the loss of a parent it goes by in the blink of an eye.
Why did it change? Why remove a safety net that supported bereaved families to take the time they *needed* to get back into the workplace, rather than the fleeting 18 months you are now given.
At the end of that 18 months you are expected to have packaged up that loss, put away
At the end of that 18 months you are expected to have packaged up that loss, put away
that pain, dealt with the emotional trauma faced by your children and get on with being productive, worthwhile members of society again.
Why? Because the Tories wanted to save some money.
How much? It must be a huge drain on the national coffers to support bereaved families?
Why? Because the Tories wanted to save some money.
How much? It must be a huge drain on the national coffers to support bereaved families?
Not quite.
DWP expect to save around £40m per year from 2020 by forcing widowed parents with young families back to work 18 months after losing a husband, wife, mother father.
Tax evasion is estimated to cost the UK tax payer around £70bn per year - about 1700 times as much.
DWP expect to save around £40m per year from 2020 by forcing widowed parents with young families back to work 18 months after losing a husband, wife, mother father.
Tax evasion is estimated to cost the UK tax payer around £70bn per year - about 1700 times as much.
So what has this to do with #FreeSchoolMeals?
I wasn't ready to back to full time work after 18 months. Nor were our kids. I could have made some very bad decisions at that time. Decisions that might have left my family in a place where we needed just that sort of assistance.
I wasn't ready to back to full time work after 18 months. Nor were our kids. I could have made some very bad decisions at that time. Decisions that might have left my family in a place where we needed just that sort of assistance.
Instead I'm able to work, support my kids and do a fair bit with my community - because I'm supported to do that, and I'm incredibly grateful for it.
Government should be judged on how it helps its citizens when they are at their lowest, when the walls come down.
Government should be judged on how it helps its citizens when they are at their lowest, when the walls come down.
This government had to be shamed into feeding children during a global pandemic. Children made poor by their austerity.
The standards and morals of Marcus Rashford are how I would like my country to be judged, not the venal bean counting of Johnson and his cronies.
/End.
The standards and morals of Marcus Rashford are how I would like my country to be judged, not the venal bean counting of Johnson and his cronies.
/End.
