“Parents of over four million children are set to benefit from lower school uniform costs, new government analysis has found.”
As the government’s landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill proceeds in the House of Lords this week, analysis shows new laws will wipe over £70 million off the cost of uniform for families across the country.
It comes as a new survey shows a third of parents are still worried about uniform costs, with one in five schools said to have actually increased the number of branded items required over the past year.
While currently schools are required to ‘limit’ the number of branded items they require, today’s survey shows almost half are not doing so.
Parents are having to pay £442 on average to kit a child out for secondary school, and £343 for primary school, putting unnecessary financial pressure on families.
To cut those costs for families and break down barriers as part of the government’s Plan for Change, new proposed laws will limit the number of branded, typically more expensive, items schools can require to three – excluding ties.
Read the full press release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-of-families-to-benefit-from-lower-school-uniform-costs
What are your experiences with school uniforms?
The cost of living crisis is exacerbating the financial strain on families, and school uniforms represent a significant expense for many so are the government doing enough to support schools and families? Here’s a few tips for you to pass on to the families you work with to help with reducing the costs:
- Review your school policy and ensure that you have included options for less expensive and unbranded alternatives
- Signpost parents to places they can access second hand uniforms. You could also set up your own donation point for old uniforms for parents to drop off items their children have grown out of.
- Encourage those that may be struggling to contact you for support and put in place systems to help with budgeting and costs for those parents.
- Allow leniency on some items if you can; such as shirts, tights and trousers.
Here’s a short list of charities which can help with supporting families with buying school uniform:
- Uniformed: https://www.uniformedcharity.org/
- Chances for Children: https://buttleuk.org/uniforms/
- Turn to us: https://www.turn2us.org.uk
- Newlife: https://newlifecharity.co.uk/
- Kinship: https://kinship.org.uk
Further reading:
Page, Geoff, Maddy Power, and Ruth Patrick. “Uniform mistakes: The costs of going back to school.” York: Covid Realities. covidrealities. org/learnings/write-ups/uniform-mistakes (2021).
Shanks, Rachel, and Stephen J. McKinney. “Cost and affordability of school uniform and child poverty.” Scottish Educational Review 54.1 (2022): 26-48.
The Team at AMHIE April 2025