Planned changes from the Department for Education (DfE) over school uniforms in England will have an effect on four million pupils in England. Seven out of ten secondary schools and around a third of primary schools will have to reduce the number of compulsory branded items to three, as well as a branded tie for secondary school students.
The new rules are part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will still have to go thorough several parliamentary stages before it becomes law. Families, according to the government, will save money but makers of school uniforms warn that it could make them cost more.
The average cost of a full school uniform and PE kit for a pupil in secondary schools, according to the DfE, is £442, and £343 for primary school pupils. Existing guidance put in place by the previous government requires schools to consider the cost of uniforms so that it does not factor into parents’ decisions about which school to send their children to.
Now, the current government wants to take it further. It hopes to limit the amount of items unique to a school that need to be bought by designated suppliers. This, the government says, will save parents around £50 per child. It hopes to come into effect in September 2026.
Uniform retailers, however, warn that this could actually increase costs to families. The Schoolwear Association says that these plans could force parents to spend more on replacing poor quality items which may not last as long as branded ones. The branded ones, they say, reduce inequality in schools and improve behaviour.
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