Wakefield councillors vote to cut £1.3m school uniform fund

Councillors in Wakefield have voted in favour of cutting a school uniform fund by £1.3m.

The Reform UK-led authority announced earlier this month that support would be available only to “those who need it most”, including children eligible for free school meals and families experiencing hardship.

The new scheme is expected to cost about £700,000 and replaces a £2m scheme approved by the previous Labour administration to provide all school children with free uniform vouchers.

Labour lost control of Wakefield Council in May after Reform took 58 out of 63 seats at the local elections.

Eligible families will be offered £30 per child under the revised plans.

Reform councillors unanimously voted in favour of rejecting a proposal, put forward by Liberal Democrat councillor Rachel Speak, to reinstate the previous scheme.

Coun Speak, who represents Knottingley ward, told a full council meeting on Wednesday (June 17): “My concern is that many families who are struggling every day will now be left behind.

“Many people working full time on minimum wage are really struggling.

“The reality is that most families live to their means. They budget around the income they have but over the past few years everyone has been hit hard by the cost of living crisis.

Coun Speak she had seen the hardship suffered by residents in her ward during her work at Ferrybridge Community Centre.

She said: “We open the food pantry because of the need in our communities and the majority of the people using it are actually working.

“They are doing everything society asks of them. They work hard, they pay their bills and try to support their families, and yet they still cannot make ends meet.

“There should have been meaningful engagement with community centres, food banks, food pantries, charities and voluntary organisations that work with these struggling families every single day.

“We know where the need is because we see it first hand, and we could have helped shape a scheme that could have reached the families that are so often invisible.

“No child should have to go to school without the correct uniform because their parents earn just above an eligibility threshold, or because their hardship has gone unnoticed.

“This motion simply asks the council to look again, to review the decision, to be transparent about the figures and to ensure no families are forgotton.”

Matthew Caton, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people, defended the new policy as he spoke against the motion.

He said: “This was a naked bribe by the previous administration in its dying gasps.

“It is not the remit of a local authority to provide school uniforms.

“If it was, why did (Labour) wait half a century to suddenly put this scheme forward?

“It was desperation. It was toying with the residents of this district.”

Coun Caton said the authority planned to work with uniform banks and schools in the district to ensure those eligible received support.

He added: “We have made a pragmatic choice that these uniform vouchers will go to the families that are most in need.

“It is on a case by case basis. It is not for the bureaucrats in Wakefield to make those decisions.

“The people who are in the best place to make those decisions are the schools on the ground.

“If you are in genuine financial difficulty, there should be no hesitation to reach out.”

Coun Caton described the price of branded school uniforms as “shocking” but said it was a “national issue”.

He added: “This is the remit of Westminster, not Wakefield.”