Food banks offer school uniforms to struggling UK families

Badged blazer, striped tie, logo-ed shirts and multiple pairs of footwear: for parents on a tight budget, the cost of a uniform for next week’s start of term can be huge anxiety as schools impose increasingly strict requirements.

In response, some of the country’s hundreds of food banks, including in Redcar in Teesside and Morecambe Bay in Lancashire, are now offering donated school uniforms to ease the strain at one of the toughest times of the year for the hardest-up families.

Food banks from urban north-east England to the rural Cotswolds said demand for their parcels rises in school summer holidays and well into September as household budgets are stretched. The lack of free school meals in holidays and the cost of uniform are two big factors.

Last week a Children’s Society survey said 1m children in England lived in families that are falling into debt to meet rising school uniform costs. This equates to 13 per cent of parents, up from 7 per cent in 2015.

At a recent children’s activity session run by Redcar food bank charity Footprints in the Community, Alex McMillan was worrying about the cost of clothes for two of her three children, who were starting at new schools next week. Four-year-old Bella, entering the reception class, needs £50 of branded uniform plus school shoes. “She has to have branded stuff at her school and they aren’t allowed to wear trainers — they have to have proper shoes,” her mother explained.

Meanwhile Cameron, 11, is moving up to secondary school. The school provides one set of uniform free — but few pupils can get by on just one set. “The shirts are branded; you can’t go to Asda,” Mrs McMillan said. “And the trousers have a logo on them; they’re £18. And he needs four pairs of shoes: school shoes, indoor trainers, outdoor trainers and football boots.”

School rules blamed for rising debt

The Children’s Society blames the rising indebtedness partly on schools stipulating specialist uniform suppliers and the government’s squeeze on key benefits and tax credits.

Its report, The Wrong Blazer 2018, said parents were spending an average of £340 per year on a uniform for each secondary schoolchild, and £255 per child at primary school. The charity said more than one parent in 20 said their child had been sent home for wearing the wrong clothes or shoes, due to them struggling to afford the items.

On recent Wednesdays, Footprints in the Community has offered for free a large choice of donated school uniform after its Lunchbox sessions, in addition to creative play sessions and a free packed lunch for children.

Located in a Baptist church hall in a pleasant residential area, the venue’s adjacent rooms house a food bank and a community café.

Footprints runs eight food banks in the Redcar area and two Lunchbox locations. The contraction of heavy industrial employment, including the end of iron and steelmaking nearly three years ago with the loss of 3,000 jobs, has driven down incomes for many households.

Low pay and poor health are common

For those without specialised skills or experience, local job options are mostly low-paid.

Low pay and poor health are recurrent themes for Lunchbox attendees. Mrs McMillan’s husband was a care worker but is unemployed following a breakdown. She juggles part-time work with looking after the family and keeping the mortgage going. “It’s been very hard,” she said.

The partner of mother-of-four Diane Houchen is undergoing cancer treatment. Her younger children, Selena, 12, and Olivia, 7, are at school. Her way to save money on uniform is simple. “You can get two years’ [use] if you buy a bigger size.”

Yet being seen to accept second-hand items can be contentious for precisely those parents most needing help.

“A lot of parents can’t afford a uniform; the last thing you need to admit is that you can’t afford it,” says one Redcar mother.

Ruth Fox, Footprints’ chief executive, recognises this dilemma. “They don’t want to come asking for support — to them it feels degrading.”

Laura (not her real name), 14, is checking the uniform but rejects a blazer that does not look new. “You’ll get bullied if you go to second hand shops,” she said. Already anxious about financial difficulties at home, she is moving school next week following bullying.

Pupils worry about non-uniform days

Kieran McGrane, headteacher at Ponteland High School, a large Northumberland comprehensive, said many pupils also fret about non-uniform days; at his school he has abolished them.

But he said he was very aware of parents’ financial concerns about uniforms. “I’m conscious of the balance to be struck between a high quality uniform and recognising the cost,” he said.

Schools such as his try to limit the number of branded, single supplier items but the danger is that variations — leggings, jeans — creep in, undermining the desired uniformity.

Ultimately, uniform conveys messages. “It’s about taking pride in your appearance and hopefully translating that into your approach to work,” said Mr McGrane. “It’s being the best you can be.” And, he added, parents’ perceptions are very clear. “Uniform equals discipline equals good school.”

In Redcar, Mrs McMillan understands why schools emphasise uniform. “I do get that feeling of pride,” she said. “But the cost is too much.”