Free school meals at the click of a mouse

PARENTS and carers in Liverpool who think their children could be entitled to free school meals can now do so at the click of a mouse. Yes, Liverpool City Council's Benefits Service has introduced a new online application and eligibility checking service. It's quick, easy and those who apply receive instant confirmation. Free school meals are worth up to £3 per day; or a tasty £390 per year.  As well as boosting young people's health and helping cash strapped families, registering also helps boost schools' coffers; regardless of whether pupils have a meal or not. Under the Government's Pupil Premium model, school funding is based upon the number of pupils that are eligible; so if more families register, schools can benefit to the tune of thousands of pounds. Each primary school gets £1,300 per pupil, at secondary level it is £935 and if a young person is looked after looked after or adopted it is £1,900 per year.  Councillor Jane Corbett, Cabinet member for education, said:- "It's vital that our young people eat a good, healthy meal during the school day and we know that some parents and carers aren't aware they are eligible. On a day to day basis, it can help improve concentration and learning, and in the longer term it helps young people develop into healthy, happy young adults. Modern school menus are healthy, nutritious and tasty, with a wide range of choice, and we don't want any young person to miss out. At a time when food bills are rising and benefit entitlement is being reduced, it is crucial that families do claim if they think they might be eligible. Most schools operate systems where no-one knows who is paying and who isn't, so other pupils won't know your child is getting free meals. It also provides a financial boost to schools, because they get additional cash for teaching each pupil that gets a free school meal." To apply, log on to:- liverpool.gov.uk/free-school-meals.

Are Merseyside Fire Stations to close "even more regularly" as service refuses to pay firefighters nationally agreed rate?

THE refusal of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to pay the nationally agreed rate for overtime will ensure that local Fire Stations will close for even longer periods of time, firefighters have said.  The Fire Brigades Union has revealed that after a decade of cuts, local stations are already regularly closing for long periods on an almost daily basis, but the Union says staff shortages provoked by the pay reduction will dramatically worsen the situation. Negotiations between local Fire Brigades Union officials and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service ground to a halt this week after 18 months when employers walked away from discussions and said they would unilaterally impose a ⅓ cut in overtime payments.  Mark Rowe, Brigade Secretary for the FBU in Merseyside, said:- "Are Merseyside firefighters worth less than our colleagues elsewhere in the UK? The Fire Service is paid for by the public and the public demands that their Fire Engines are available 24/7. In this time of austerity, we understand the constraints local Fire Services are under, but the Fire Service should not prioritise saving money over saving lives." The FBU says that by 2016 firefighter numbers in Merseyside could have fallen by almost half in just over a decade from 1,200 to 680, and that Fire Stations in Kensington, Crosby, West Kirby, Allerton, Whiston and Aintree had all experienced closures as a result of staff shortages.  For the last 18 months, firefighters have been working overtime at the reduced rate as a "goodwill gesture" to prevent stations being closed, and had offered to continue the arrangement during their suggested 30 extension of discussions. The FBU had hoped that any agreement could then be backdated for that period, but the Fire Service has now said that it will "never" abide by national agreements on pay.  As a result, local union officials voted to reject the Service's proposals at a meeting last week, calling the service's decision:- "ideologically driven" and "unnecessary."  The Union also said that:- "as well as working overtime for flat rate; local firefighters had recently agreed to a change in shift patterns, agreed to implement those shift changes immediately and as a consequence 'nearly doubled their productivity' as a result of such a rapid reduction in staffing."