Demand for school uniform bank 'has never been higher'

A charity offering parents the chance to pick up second hand school uniforms for free said demand for its services "has never been higher".

Wirral Free Uniforms for Schools, which has 12 hubs across Wirral and has been going for 14 years, said uniforms are still rising in price despite government guidelines.

Demand has risen even in "affluent areas" thanks to "posher schools" charging high fees for certain mandatory uniform items, it said.

Project co-ordinator Petra Davies said: "The cost of uniform, despite the government guidelines, is still rising in price and people just cannot afford it."

Research from charity the Children's Society found 68% of parents across north-west England said this year's school holidays were costing more than last year's.

The charity helped successfully campaign for changes in government rules to restrict the number of branded items schools demand in school uniforms - in theory allowing parents to by cheaper generic clothing.

However, Davies said there were "caveats" - which meant in some cases even without logos the correct item of clothing was difficult to find outside of the school itself.

"There's a girl school who have a navy jumper with a white stripe, and the school is saying you don't need the logo on that jumper any longer, but in actual fact it's branded because of the white stripe," she said.

"They are abiding by knocking down the number of logo'd items but there are lots of ways that the schools can get around it."

Davies also mentioned a school in Birkenhead, considered "posh" in the area, which charges £52 for a school rugby top alone.

"We have people who, in the posh schools, their uniform is actually more expensive than anyone else's so it really helps them if we can give stuff away," she said.

One mother-of-four at the charity's Birkenhead hub said: "It's really helpful, it means that I can give the children days out and things like that rather than spend it on the uniform.

"It'd take a huge cut out of my budget, especially during summer holidays because they never stop eating."

She gave examples including the cost of a pair of shoes for a primary school-aged child at around £50, a pack of shirts around £20 and described spending £60 on a new blazer last year.

"When you add it all up it's a lot of money and a lot of stress from the beginning of the summer holidays right to the end," she said.

Viktoria, who moved to the UK from Kyiv in Ukraine, said the uniform bank was extremely helpful while her family settled into a new life.

"We have two children and we only moved here two months ago, and now in my family only my husband works," she said.

"It is a big help."

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