Children’s charity condemns school uniform grant cuts

A leading children’s charity has condemned the decision by Leeds City Council to cut school uniform grants for low income families. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said the decision would be “a huge blow” to some of the poorest families in the city.

School uniform allowances in Leeds will now only be available for children starting in reception or year seven. Payments have been increased from £20 to £27.50 for reception pupils and £30 to £37.50 for year seven pupils – but only 4,500 pupils will automatically qualify this year compared to 24,000 last year. According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, the move will save £405,000 a year.

CPAG Chief Executive Kate Green said today:

“For a relatively small financial saving, Leeds City Council’s decision is a huge blow to thousands of the city’s poorest families who rely on this support. Many parents on tight budgets will now struggle to buy new uniforms for their children.

“We hope the Council will think again and restore annual school uniform grants for those who need them. As any parent knows, you don’t just buy uniforms for growing children in reception and year seven, you need to buy costly school clothes every year.

“This news comes at a time when hard-pressed parents need to start ordering new uniforms for the autumn term and already face the extra costs associated with the long summer break.

“Cutting back support for children should not be an easy saving for local education authorities (LEAs) to make but, sadly, two in five LEAs now provide no help at all with school uniforms costs. So we would like the Government to put forward national proposals that would give all low income families help towards buying school uniforms, regardless of where they live.”

Leeds City Council’s decision comes as the Office of Fair Trading launches an inquiry into the costs and quality of school uniforms, a market worth around £450 million a year.

A survey by Citizens Advice in 2004 found that 42 per cent of local authorities offer not help at all to parents with school uniforms costs, however low their income, compared with 30% in 2001.

For further information from CPAG please contact:
Alex Belardinelli
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
abelardinelli@cpag.org.uk