Adding Up Campaign

For many years the Citizens Advice service has been concerned about the costs faced by parents when sending their children to school. Bureaux are increasingly seeing families struggling to buy uniforms and to pay for school trips and other equipment with no help available from local authorities.

In 2007 a new Schools Admissions Code, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families was introduced which applies to all schools and academies in England, when setting their admissions arrangements for September 2008. For the first time the Code made clear reference to the importance of limiting the cost to parents and guardians, of school uniforms and trips.

Cluster Group members surveyed 215 infant, junior, primary, secondary and special schools across the rural and urban areas of the county. With an overall return rate of 46% the survey formed a clear picture of the challenges that schools face in the implementation of the new code and also the challenges that face many parents in meeting the true cost of “free” education.

On the whole the survey concluded that Derbyshire Schools were making every effort to make uniforms available at a reasonable cost with the exception of those who used sole suppliers for PE kit and clothing with logos. With just over half of the schools operating a second hand clothing outlet, the survey concluded that there was room for improvement in this area.

Derbyshire County Council confirmed that the school uniform grants are no longer available direct to parents but a small fund is accessible to a limited number of children via their Educational Social Workers. Schools are therefore expected to operate a fully inclusive uniform policy without any form of financial back up from the local authority.

Copies of the report were made available to each of the Custer Group bureaux and were sent to the schools that took part in the survey.
 

For more information contact:

Mrs Amanda Leadbeater
Tel: 01332 228724,
Email: amanda.leadbeater@citizensadviceandlawcentre.org