The DfE’s new school uniform rule will come into effect in September 2026 but will it be enough to help?
Why is it so expensive?
One reason is an insistence on branded items that cannot just be bought from any shop. This is something the government is looking to amend, saying that, ‘seven in 10 secondary schools and 35% of primary schools in England will have to reduce the number of compulsory branded items to three, plus a branded tie for secondary students.’ This will save around £50 per child, but is that enough? A survey from Parentkind found that when parents were asked how they afforded the cost of school uniform, ‘almost 30% face having to go without heating or eating at some point.’ If families are already having to make difficult decisions like this, is £50 of savings that won’t even be in effect until September 2026 really going to cut it?
One way that costs could be reduced significantly would be for students to be permitted to have plain uniforms and iron-on school badges. This alone could help 82% of parents save money. It would give them the freedom to find the best possible deals for uniforms, giving them much more affordable options. Students could still be seen as part of the school community with the school branding still on show, just at a much more affordable price.
And it’s not just about the cost either; there are other negative impacts such as punishment and exclusion. For example, ‘Almost half of parents say their child has been told off at school for wearing uniform from a supermarket rather than a specific supplier’ and ‘3,000 parents said they were being unfairly punished or excluded because they could not afford expensive uniform’, which will understandably impact on students and parents’ mental health and on children’s learning.
Here are some more statistics on UK school uniforms.
- Help really varies regionally, for example, Barnet council offers a maximum of £30 per child, whereas Wandsworth council offers a maximum of £170 per child.
- 45% of 2,000 parents surveyed are relying on credit cards to afford school uniforms.
- 88% of parents said that being able to choose where to buy uniform helps them meet their child’s needs.
- Only 6/10 parents told us their school allows them to buy plain uniforms and sew or iron on logos 1, 2.
What support is available?
‘Families on certain benefits in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can claim between £93 and £200 for ‘back-to-school’ clothes’. However, the same kind of blanket support is not available in England, where ‘only one fifth of councils provide support, just 22 local authorities in England (LEAs) provide a unform grant, and 7 additional LEAs providing support in exceptional circumstances’. Check if your local council provides a grant. If your council doesn’t, you can apply for help through a Household Support Fund via the local council.
Second-hand uniforms are a saviour for some families, where this is available from local charities and communities. Sarah Beadle, from school uniform charity, Stripey Stork, explains, “We hear about parents who are looking at going into more debt than they are already in or having to make difficult decisions between food and clothing or heating and eating. It’s not a situation we want families to be in.”
It’s worth talking to your school or local council to see if there are second-hand options local to you. Some schools also have uniform recycling schemes themselves which can be of great benefit to parents and carers, especially if they need branded items at a more affordable price. Darlington Borough Council has an amazing service where donated unforms are FREE to local parents, with branded items from more than 25 local schools! Wouldn’t it be great to have more services like these? There are also charities that can help, such as turn2us, Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust, Uniformed and Buttle.
