To wish I could spend my school clothing vouchers in a better choice of shops?

[TinHelmet]

Obviously I am very glad that for the 2nd year running the council has generously given me 43 quids worth of vouchers with which to buy 'clothes suitable for school' for my daughter.
However would it be unreasonable to ask that we can use them in a better choice of shops? Mine are valid in 4, one is a sports shop, one seems to specialise in uniforms for private schools, one can only be described as a pound store for clothes (I got a pair of shoes for DD there last year at the bargain price of 4 quid. They completely fell apart after exactly 2 weeks) and the last one is BHS.

BHS,IMO, has the worst range, quality and prices of all the department stores and supermarkets which sell school uniform, that I can think of.
In fact I have been so hard-pressed to find anything worth buying in BHS that I still have half of last year's vouchers in my purse.

M&S have 3 for 2, good quality and a great choice. Tescos and other supermarket brands are also good.

If the whole point is that I am poor enough to qualify for help with school clothes why can't I also be given the opportunity to shop around and get the best value out of the vouchers and some decent quality items which might actually last more than a couple of months?

And not only am I really annoyed about this but I also have to feel ungrateful.

YANBU.

I don't understand why they do this. The vouchers in my town come through for ONE shop, and it's the most expensive shop!

Fair point, makes sense for people to get the most out of the vouchers. YANBU

yanbu, as a tax payer i would prefer any vouchers that are funded by the tax payer should be able to get value out of that voucher.

Thanks, was expecting to be told I am BU and ungrateful to boot.

I couldn't even find decent tights in BHS, the sizes are tiny.

DD now has enough pants and vests and socks to last her 3 years, since those were the only items worth buying. Even the gym shoes were rubbishy. I went next door and bought far better ones for the same price in M&S...well, obviously not the same price as the BHS ones would have cost me nothing, woohoo.

I pick up all her skirts, pinafores, cardys and coats 2nd hand...

Do you think there's any point in writing to the council about this? I bet no-one else ever bothers to complain...

we get a cheque for £55 for senior,£40 primary every 2YEARS but we can spend on what and where we like,dont have to show receipts or anything.

YANBU

Interesting that there are different systems in different parts of the country.

I expect the shops put in a bid to be the ones chosen. They certainly don't seem to be chosen on the strength of value for money.