Missing out on meals

Many children are now eligible for free meals

Thousands of children could be missing out on free school meals because of the confusion over the government's new tax credits.

To claim the meals - and other benefits - parents must show the award notice which explains how much they're entitled to.

But the backlog of applications at the Inland Revenue means thousands of people are still waiting for their notices - and their money.

About one million children already get free school meals.

Health costs

But the changes brought in last month with the introduction of the Child Tax Credit and Family Tax Credit mean another 75,000 are now eligible.

If your gross income is below £13,230, you should be eligible for help with meals, baby formula and milk and the cost of school trips.

If your income is less than £14,200 you can get assistance with health costs such as dental treatment and eye tests.

Of those 75,000 who should now be claiming school meals, only 18,000 are getting them.

Dianne: Losing out on £40 a week

The remaining 57,000 are missing out either because they don't know about the scheme or because they are still waiting for their award notice to arrive.

"I've got four children so it's quite a lot of money a week I'm pulling out for four dinners which I may be entitled to claim," says Working Lunch viewer Dianne Snowdon.

"And I'll never be able to get that money backdated."

She estimates it could be worth as much as £40 a week.

The Inland Revenue says that people who are still waiting for notices should be able to claim their school meals.

Still valid

They need to use the notice from the Working Families Tax Credit, the scheme which was replaced this year. These notices are still valid until the end of July 2003.

The chaos with the new tax credits has been caused because Inland Revenue phone lines have collapsed under the weight of calls.

Even people who registered before the January deadline and have received notification are still waiting for their money to come through.