Wubi News

Huge support for affordable school uniforms law

2024-12-13 19:00:29
About 7,500 responded to a consultation for a new law to make all school uniforms affordable

There is significant support for a new law to make all school uniforms affordable, according to a consultation on the proposed new law.

It attracted about 7,500 responses from young people, parents and organisations.

More than three-quarters of respondents were in favour of making school uniforms affordable by law.

But there were concerns over whether a "cost cap" on uniforms would work.

The Department of Education (DE) issued guidance in 2018 which "advised" schools to keep uniform costs to a minimum.

But the Education Minister Paul Givan has said he intends to bring forward a School Uniforms Bill which will require schools to keep uniform costs affordable.

The results of the consultation on the proposal have been published by the Department for Education (DE).

Emma Morgan said her son's school is "flexible" with school uniforms but that is not the case for all schools

School rules being too strict was mentioned by responders and that no child should be disciplined if they could not afford the correct uniform.

Ties were also called "unnecessary and a potential safety hazard".

Among the suggestions for keeping costs low were to:

But the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) told the department that while it supported measures reducing the number of branded items in schools, price caps could have "unintended consequences".

It said a cap could reduce choice, impact the quality of goods or lead to higher prices if set too high.

Naomi McBurney believes action needs to be taken against uniform prices