Almost a third of North East parents still struggling to pay for uniforms
The Children's Society did a survey
It's been revealed almost a third of North East parents are still struggling to pay for mandatory school uniforms and PE kits.
That's according to a major new poll by The Children’s Society, which also shows nearly half said that uniform prices had not become more affordable over the past year, despite efforts to make more second-hand items available.
Nationally, the same survey of 3,000 parents found that thousands of children across the UK have faced punishments linked to unaffordable uniforms – including detentions, isolation, and even exclusions. Secondary school pupils were most likely to be affected, with one in eight placed in isolation for uniform breaches beyond their control.
Mark Russell, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society, said: “In the North East, too many families are feeling the squeeze from high uniform costs. Every child in our region should be able to attend school without fear of being singled out because their parents can’t afford expensive branded items.
"With school uniform costs still crippling family budgets, we welcome the proposed limit of three branded items in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and urge the government to implement it – parents overwhelmingly support this much-needed change.”
The poll also found strong backing for reform, with 78% of parents UK-wide supporting a statutory limit on branded items. Parents suggested an average of three branded items would be reasonable, but they said they are currently required to buy five items in primary schools and six in secondary on average.
Jumpers, cardigans, PE tops, and ties remain the most common branded items, inflating costs. Over the summer holidays, when uniform bills peak, The Children’s Society is working with charity shops, community projects, and uniform banks to make affordable second-hand uniforms more accessible across the North East and the rest of the UK.
Natalie Frankland, founder and director of ReLoved Clothing in Hartlepool, said: "We've noticed an uptake again this year in terms of parents coming in for school uniform. We've been seeing the increase rise among secondary school parents and the cost comes with the logos, and as a town we sit at around 40 percent child poverty.
"We do hear these stories when parents come into the shop, children have been put into isolation or they've been suspended because they've come in with not the right PE kit. For example, they've come in with a pair of plain black leggings rather than the actual school-based leggings in a secondary school. In primary schools, we don't see that much of a problem with.
"It's hard enough for some children to actually get to school, so if they've actually turned up to school regardless of what PE leggings they're wearing, we still should be giving them the opportunity to partake and learn. It kind of makes me really glad that we're able to provide the service that we do provide so that parents don't have that financial strain.
"I wholly agree with uniform and uniform should exist, which is why we run the free uniform service because it gives that child a sense of identity and they have a sense of community, so no way should uniforms be scrapped however we do need to be realistic about the logos; is there ways and means we can develop badges that the children could wear or do we just need a tie?
"We haven't done this year's statistics yet but I know it'll be higher than what we've seen in the last two years because we've had a bigger uptake. We're looking at over 35,000 items of school uniform given out and we've been running for three and a half years now. The need isn't going away and I always thought that need would dwindle down but it never has.
"We're still having the same conversations around cost of living, the cost of gas and electric is still going up, the cost of inflation around food is still going up. You're talking about families who potentially not just got one child and I dread to think the cost for larger families, so it's just for people to be aware that we are there and we can support across the entire Tees Valley, not just Hartlepool."
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