to think that all child benefit should be scrapped from the age of 5

[Ithinkitsjustme]

I think that instead of recieving child benefit, all school age children should be entitled to free school uniforms (including one pair of shoes and trainers and a coat), breakfast and cooked lunch and all school trips (which some years would be more expensive than others), there could also be a new benefit set up for those on a low income. At the moment, many schools charge over the odds for school uniform, trips are unaffordable for the majority of families and suitable school shoes are very expensive, if these were supplied by the schools, the cost would be far lower and would thus save money across the board. Those who wished would be able to send their child with packed lunches.

The uniform for dds high school was £90 including everything including blazer and logors shirts. That also includes shoes.

Over £200 per child wtf?

What shout schools that don't have uniform?

If it were that black and white and all kids went to normal schools I would actually agree wholeheartedly. But as the others have pointed out, it isn't

What shout schools that don't have uniform? H&M vouchers

YABU. My DS won't eat school dinners. I would rather have the money so I can put it towards the things that my child needs, not what the government decides every child should use it for.

h&m vouchers

It would take about 20 minutes before a thread appeared on mn about someones mates, sisters, aunt and the fact that they spend their childrens vouchers on themselves and send the kids to school in just a pair of socks.
:)

Yeah, let's give everyone the same amount of money in a really costly to administer voucher scheme that is utterly useless to some people anyhow and which assumes everyone is so crap at budgeting that they need the government to run part of their family finances

I agree as long as we get a reduction in tax as well.

The uniform for dds high school was £90 including everything including blazer and logors shirts. That also includes shoes.

I wish! Mine was over £650 to kit out two children for secondary school with just one item each (thats one of everything required)!!! And its just the local secondary!

I find the amount some people spend on uniform staggering. Ours is reasonably priced, easily handed down, and I buy a lot of it second hand. We also pass outgrown stuff to friends and people pass stuff to me.

If I was spending £650 on two dcs (i have 4) I'd organize a petition to complain to the school. They are in school 200 days a year, that's nearly the same price as school dinners per day.

Daft idea, but worth a try!

I like the idea of school meals being free for all children. There are plenty of children who would benefit hugely from it, not just ones with parents who are out of work or on low incomes.

But free uniform is pointless. It gets lost, can be sold second hand, passed down to siblings, it wouldn't save some families money if they got it free instead of CB.

YANBU
I've always wondered why it is not done like this.

Haven't seen any good arguments against.

At least not everyone thinks I've lost the plot unless they are humouring me [paranoid emoticon]

I find the amount some people spend on uniform staggering. Ours is reasonably priced, easily handed down, and I buy a lot of it second hand. We also pass outgrown stuff to friends and people pass stuff to me.

I totally agree that it is way out of order but everything is logo's and only available from scholars. The clothes my eldest wore in yr7 were handy for someone else but not for my youngest who is already bigger than his brother was at the same age. And my older son grew a staggering 9 inches in his first school year at secondary so there is no "middle stuff" to pass to my youngest as the oldest skipped a size. There are lots of friends children (as long as they are in the same "house") who can wear my boys cast offs but they are the tallest of all the families we know so no-one has anything to pass to me. :(

I have talked to the school about a second hand service but had no reply yet and the only shop locally that sold second hand stuff has closed down.

Believe me, at the rate my sons are growing I am going to need plenty of stuff for as cheaply as I can find them! My oldest is already 5ft10 at just 13 years old!

nokidshere I'm in a similar position, where my DS and my DD are the same size even though there is a year between them, no chance of hand me downs there. The school has also changed teh uniform recently so I need to replace things that otherwise wouldn't need replacing yet
meditrina why would it be an expensive scheme to implement, it would only be a case of the money going to the school rather than to the parents.

Boden coats and Clarks shoes for all!

I don't like any of your sugggestions OP but I still think stopping CB at age 5 would be more fair and easier and cheaper to administer than the scheme that the government is about to implement.

Isn't there just about to be a government-ordered review into the cost of school uniform as it is recognised that even many state schools are deliberately making uniform available from one source only so that they can take a cut of the profit. In an age of austerity, I think we should return to a system of colours, rather than logos, although there's no denying that the latter looks much smarter.

However, while £250 per child may seem like a lot of money (which is what it would cost at my local secondary, including sports kit), when you factor in the amount of time that child spends in uniform, it actually works out as fairly good value.

I think it sounds quite a good idea; throw in free childcare and I will sign up.

and busfare to school [hwink]

I don't know why they can't bring back logoed badges (like we had in my day) that got sewn onto ANY navy jumper or whatever. I think they used to cost about £1 each, but of course the school wouldn't make any money out of that.

That pretty much covers what my cb goes on oh and birthday and xmas presents too.

It would never work but i think its agood idea.

It costs me £25 a week to send ds to school, not including trips and charity days.

Im dreading when all 3 are in secondary. It is ridiculously expensive.

We are supposed to have a free education system in the UK but in reality it isn't. Children are sent home from school for not wearing the correct uniform, they are bullied because they can't afford to go on school trips/ have the right label on their coats. And at the same time some parents set aside their CB so they can have betting money at their yearly visit to the races. It's wrong and somehow we need to make sure that child benefit does exactly that.

nokidshere I honestly didn't realise how much people pay.
The uniform shop did a pack. With everything in and then I just bought her shoes. She needs some tights now so should add that on.
But a junior school her cardigans were only £11 and she always grew outnofbtyem before they needed replacing. Lasted at least a full school year and these were logoed.

Nokids

Sounds like the 'house' system unnecessarily adds to your problems? Could the school look into changing that using an enameled badge, for example?

Our children are thankfully slow growing, and handily stay in chronological order of size

"meditrina why would it be an expensive scheme to implement, it would only be a case of the money going to the school rather than to the parents"

Because instead of it being a regular payment to families (and children do tend to stay with a parent), it would have to be reassessed termly? Yearly? When child grew? What would happen in the pubery years where annual really wouldn't be enough? And children move between schools often enough, necessitating a new uniform - or would they wear the old school uniform until the next issue point? And a school census provided, checked and audited. Then someone would have to decide the rate per school - or must all schools have the same uniform items at same cost? Then each school would have to run the scheme - providing vouchers to the parents to use at point of purchase. Or measuring and buying for each child and distributing? And providing an auditable trail that all funds received were disbursed as intended.

Plus separate system for replacements beyond the scheme, which might mean even greater expense, for would the cheap retailers continue to stock as many items once demand plummetted?