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State education is free but for low-income families paying for school trips, meals, books and uniforms causes hardship and can stigmatise students, writes Kate Coxon.

A Barnardo’s report, published in July, has highlighted the summer holiday misery experienced by low-income families who are unable to afford a trip to the local swimming pool let alone the seaside. Parents interviewed for Wish You Were Here¹ found that the summer holidays were one of the most stressful periods of the year and worried that their children felt stigmatised and excluded during the summer.

September should bring some respite for families on low incomes. Free school meals resume and school-age children, at least, are occupied. But going back to school brings fresh problems for families in poverty: how to pay for the school clothes and equipment that children need at the start of the school year. After a difficult and expensive summer, finding money to clothe children for school can be the last straw.

School clothing is not the only expense. A recent report from the Child Poverty Action Group: The Costs of Education - A Local Study, carried out by the Oxford and District Branch of the CPAG² examines parental experiences of the costs of items associated with school education. The study points out that despite having a "free" school system in the UK, educational costs are a key problem facing parents living on a low income. Some families, particularly those headed by a lone parent, report difficulties in paying for school clothes, trips and music lessons and meeting other expenses.

In addition, the report highlights the fact that voluntary charges for activities often don’t feel voluntary for parents. It concludes: "For these families, charges, requests for contributions towards school trips and activities, and school fundraising efforts posed problems for the family budget. Parents struggled with decisions about sending their children on school trips since they were keen for their children not to miss out on opportunities or feel excluded from their peers."

Costs of kitting out a child for school can vary. Many schools have replaced full uniforms with sweatshirts to keep costs down, but there are other items: books, bags, PE kit. Children from low-income families may be deterred from signing up for extra activities - music lessons and sports activities for example - that require special equipment.

In January 2001, Citizens Advice published a report Uniform Failure,3 looking at the lack of help available to families with the cost of school uniforms. A Citizens Advice survey last year showed that the limited grants available from LEAs had been slashed further.

Thirty per cent of local education authorities provide no help whatsoever with the cost of school uniforms, and as Citizens Advice social policy officer Katie Lane points out, assistance is patchy even among those authorities that do provide it. "There are huge regional variations in availability, value and the frequency with which grants are paid. Not having the proper uniforms can mean young people are excluded from the social and academic life of their school. Citizens Advice Bureaux report that not all schools follow LEA guidance on uniform policies. We’d like to see the government issue guidance to LEAs on grant schemes and monitor their policies in this area."

There is guidance from the government about charging for school trips. Governors may not charge for most activities in school time, but can charge for activities wholly or mainly outside school hours, if these are optional extras, as well as board and lodging on residential courses. But they are also allowed to invite parents and others to make "voluntary" contributions.

These present problems, as one parent in the CPAG study explained: "Parents just get a letter, permission slip and request for money. It is hard to refuse a child as there is no apparent ‘nice’ alternative offered. It does not seem acceptable for them not to go."

Another felt that children would be left out of the trip if they did not pay the voluntary charge: "A ‘voluntary contribution’ means that if you don’t pay, your child won’t go on the trip. So not very voluntary!"

Schools usually have hardship funds for trips but previous research has shown that families rarely know about them. Those who do are often unwilling to come forward and ask for, fearing that their child will be singled out.

The stigma extends to free school meals, according to CPAG’s director Martin Barnes. "We know from previous research we’ve done that one in three children don’t claim the free school meals they are entitled to, because of the stigma associated with it. They don’t want their names ticked off, they don’t want to be picked out and identified as the poor kid in the class."

Barnes points out that many children would rather not tell their parents about a school trip or outing that needs to be paid for because they know they will not be able to afford it. "The child fears pressure and embarrassment if they can’t go and so they often keep quiet about it and take a sickie on the day."

The Barnardo’s report recommended placing a statutory duty on local authorities to provide school uniform grants to families on income support. CPAG would like to see benefit levels increased to take into account the fact that schools tend to charge for trips and outings. It also proposes widening the remit of the Social Fund to include items associated with schooling. If the government is serious about its free education system and wants to tackle child poverty and social exclusion, it should address these issues now.

¹ Barnardo’s, Wish You Were Here, July 2003

² The Costs of Education: study by the Oxford and District Branch of the Child Poverty Action Group is available from: CPAG, 94 White Lion Street, London N1 9PF, 020 7837 7979, www.cpag.org.uk

³ Uniform Failure, Citizens Advice, Jan 2001