Parents say they're still being forced to spend 'exorbitant amounts' on uniform - despite schools being told to cut costs.
Under changes to the Education Act last year, schools in England were told to lower costs for families - by removing unnecessary branded items and making cheaper second-hand uniform available.
But a report from The Children's Society says parents and carers are still being forced to spend hundreds of pounds, an average of £422 on secondary pupils and £287 on primary uniforms.
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The charity says much of those 'exorbitant amounts' are due to schools insisting on branded items which must be bought from specialist shops rather than cheaper supermarkets and chains.
A survey of 2,000 parents found that pupils are expected to have an average of three, but 29 percent of secondary youngsters need five, including PE kits, while 13 percent have to source up to seven.
It says parents of secondary school children face the highest expenses for various clothing items, including:
- Coats and bags averaging £75 per child annually
- Sports shoes and boots for PE amounting to £63 per child per year
- School shoes costing £62
- Blazers coming in at £46
- Skirts and dresses costing £46
- Jumpers and ties amounting to £40
The government says it is working to ensure 'uniform costs are reasonable', but with 45% of parents reporting that their school uniform policies have still not been updated since the Act was changed, they say it's not happening on the ground.
Mark Russell, chief executive of The Children's Society, says it's 'alarming' that parents are still having to spend such 'exorbitant' amounts.
"With inflation and the cost of living eating into family budgets, we are disappointed that the affordability of school uniforms remains a significant financial burden for many families," he said.
"While some schools have made commendable changes to reduce costs, this positive trend is still not widespread enough. We urge parents who struggle with the affordability of school uniforms to contact the school and the school governors."
In 2020 the charity found that parents of secondary school pupils were spending significantly less on uniform, at £337 a year on average. Parents of primary schools kids were spending slightly more, at £315.
The Equal Start Network is just one of a growing number of local community organisations supporting families with uniform costs, and is currently working with six schools in north and central Manchester.
Thanks to student researcher funding from the University of Manchester, it's been able to gather data on uniform costs at every school in the city of Manchester over the previous academic year, as well as survey school staff on the support and guidance they have received to implement changes following the changes to the Act and the additional provision they have been able to provide to their children.
The Network's Matt Stallard said: "Uniform is yet another cost that families have no choice but to try and meet on top of unprecedented rises in fuel, food, rent, and other costs as incomes fail to keep up.
"When it's tough to find any extra in the monthly budget for the essentials, uniform costs usually all come at the same time of year, and if you have two, three, or more children, that's a huge outlay in one go on top of everything else."
He added: "There's huge impacts on children's access to education and confidence when parents can't access the required uniform for their school, but there's lot of help we can give to schools to allow them to change policies to reduce costs of essential uniform and as a city to coordinate better to ensure that support for families gets to those who need it and programmes like uniform swap schemes are accessible to everyone."
Along with partner community groups and schools, he said the Network plans to release its data this summer to help families and schools gain a better understanding and know exactly where to access help.
The government says that 'it’s up to individual schools to set their own policies' on uniform, they could decide to not have one at all. But if they do, it should be 'fair for all'.
If a school does not appear to be following the rules, it states: "If parents are concerned that their child's school is not following the guidance, they should raise this with the school through the school’s published complaints process.
"Where parents have gone through their school’s complaints process and feel the school has not adequately addressed their concerns, they may raise this with the Department for Education."
Has your child's school changed its uniform policy to make it cheaper? How much are you having to spend to kit your child out for school? Let us know in the comments.
For more details about the Equal Start Network, visit the website.
