Authorities fail to help with uniforms

Nearly a third of local education authorities
do not help families on low incomes with the costs of buying school
uniforms, according to the Family Welfare Association. It says this
leads to “further exclusion”.

Even where LEAs do make grants available, in
nearly 40 per cent of cases the funding rarely meets even half of
the actual cost, the FWA adds.

Armed with its findings, the FWA has now
called on the government to make it a duty – rather than an option
– for LEAs to provide school uniform grants and to provide guidance
to school governors on choosing “simple, cheap, readily available
and easy to launder” uniforms.

– Grants for School Uniforms from 020 7254
6251