Scotland has provided free school lunches since 2015 to children from low income families

Westminster seem to be prioritising something else over child poverty.

The free school lunches is a bonus for children in England however it's a sticking plaster to soften the blow of postponing the poverty strategy.

No MP who owns businesses or has other jobs are sacrificing their MP salaries and expenses to free up a fund for children in poverty.

This week Nigel Farage has flown by private plane to Scotland. He has earned himself as having the most highest income from at least 10 jobs and he has failed to be in Parliament to debate important matters such as re joining the EU.

With a Belgium passport and offshore bank accts, he doesn't pay tax in the UK.

I had no idea that expanding free school meals to everyone on universal credit was in the pipeline, so it was a lovely surprise to see the news today! I was slightly less excited once I saw that it wouldn’t come into effect until next year but it’s still brilliant news. I am constantly falling behind on topping up my son’s school lunch account and it seems to cost a fortune! Rightly or wrongly, it will also make it far less of a stigma to be on free school meals because of the variety and number of families who receive universal credit and the fact many of us are in work (not that it should matter..)

Even though I really welcome the news, about Free school meals being expanded to include anyone on Universal Credit whether you're working or not, I am slightly disappointed that both this and the Child Poverty Strategy won't be implemented immediately as I believe it is immediately that we need this change to take place because of the cost of living crisis we're still in.

I also wish that the expansion of free school meals in England could also apply to every family on Universal Credit in the devolved nations as well.

Child poverty is a real issue. Although the government are saying they'll help and school meals etc etc

I don't think it is enough. How will parents save £500 a year? I don't see that happening or see parents actually feeling the relief when it happens

For starters I have a 17 year old and a 10year old and they have always had school meals. The quality of it is never great and I have noticed a decline in school lunches over the years...most kids don't like it. Of course its better than nothing but there are times my child misses lunch because it's so awful or there's nothing left other than a wee sandwich. If there was a way the government could give parents a voucher like the free milk n veg voucher and that vouchers get used for lunch items in supermarkets such as pasta a sauce pesto cold meat fruit cheese salad vegetables to make a home made soup think of the quality and quantity of food you can make a soup can last a few days pasta can be kept a few days or left overs be eaten later that day as some kids don't have dinner. It's a bit like give a man a fish he'll eat for a day...teach him to fish and he'll never be hungry. Instead of just giving kids poor school lunch. Equip families with recipes and things vouchers that can only be used for food for lunch. Encourage then to make healthy lunches for their kids. They can make a batch of soup freeze some away they can make tortilla cheese and ham or beef chilli and it can make filling quesidilla make big pot of pasta a different sauce every day..kid will be healthier and families won't need to struggle at dinner time. Let parents SEE this help

I am really happy to learn today that the Government will be rolling out free school meals for all families on Universal Credit whether they're working or not. This will hopefully lift 100,000 children out of poverty and shows that all of our campaigning and hard work for this change has really paid off.

The only downside to this though, is that it won't be implemented until September 2026, and there is still no change regarding lifting the 2 child benefit cap as yet. Hopefully this will be next!

This month I have had an unexpected vet bill to pay of £200. I have now been left with no money for the rest of the month. I know I say it every month in my diary but I generally have had enough of living this life, it’s shit and I hate it. I would love to get MPS to come and spend a month living with me and saying how much things cost.

TW: Suicide.

I have lived with complex PTSD for as long as I can remember. My trauma has been lifelong and layered, and I reached out to mental health services for help long before the worst happened. General counselling and CBT had not helped me in the past, and I asked specifically for trauma-focused treatment. Despite being honest about how severely my symptoms were impacting my life, I was told I wasn’t “unwell enough” to access adult mental health services in my area.

Then my world shattered. I lost my 19-year-old son to suicide — and a year later, the father of my children also took his own life. I was left devastated, heartbroken, and completely alone in my grief. I turned to the crisis team in absolute desperation, begging for support, but even after losing my child, I was still told I didn’t meet the threshold for help.

It felt like I was screaming into a void — invisible and unheard.

Eventually, I reached breaking point. I wrote an email to the adult mental health treatment service and told them clearly: if they didn’t help me, I would take my own life. I had been pushed so far beyond what any human being should have to bear, and I couldn’t see a way forward anymore. I was not trying to scare anyone — I was telling the truth. I was exhausted from trying to survive in a system that only responds when someone is at the edge. I had nothing left in me to keep fighting. I was mentally broken, physically unwell, dissociating constantly, and still trying to care for three children on my own.

Only then — after I said I was prepared to end my life — did anyone listen. I was offered ten sessions of EMDR therapy. And while I was grateful to be seen at last, ten sessions are nowhere near enough for the level of trauma I live with. My PTSD remains, my grief remains, and now I have developed a trauma-related tic in my mouth. I’ve been left to manage on my own once again.

I haven’t been able to return to work. I’m raising my children alone on Universal Credit, which simply isn’t enough to live on. The stress and the pressure of trying to survive without proper mental health support are relentless. I feel abandoned. I feel punished for not fitting neatly into a box. It makes me angry that the government and the system think a handful of therapy sessions is enough to address complex, long-term trauma and unimaginable loss.

Until you’ve lived this, you can’t understand how hard it is just to get up in the morning — to function, to parent, to pretend you’re okay when you’re not. I didn’t just lose the people I love. I lost faith in the system that’s meant to be there when we need it most.

I am still here, but not because the system helped me. I am here despite it.

I only stay for my children but it’s like carrying a heavy weight and the road ahead is long dark and scary.

Difficulty especially pay day not long off xx

Finding Universal Credit a bag of frustrations again and it’s getting me down. Earlier this week I had a good call with a course leader for an online part-time Masters programme. It sounds like I’d be well placed to secure a place on the programme so excitement abounded only to come crashing down when I began looking into how Masters loans interact with Universal Credit. Frankly I couldn’t understand it, after initial devastation (lazily I relied on Google which was no help and suggested the whole loan would be treated as income despite most of it being used for tuition fees) I was relieved a little to see something about it only counting 30% as income in recognition that 70% (in reality more) goes on tuition fees. So are we back on? Am I about to embark on a 2 year online masters? We’ll see, I want confirmation of the rules and will have to work out what it would mean for my finances but it’s possible!

I am struggling to pay rent as due to my health issues, I'm not able to work.

Not qualified for advance payment from DWP makes me again in rent debt.

The calls and letters from housing are making my health deteriorate day by day.

Where is the light end of the tunnel?

I am worried about my housing rent charges as it fluctuates with my income. Managing now carefully that I can manage other household expenditure besides paying rent and other essential bills.