Another downside of being switched to universal credit...

[FuckASilverLining]

I am on ESA and once a year in July I take out a budgeting loan of £812 to pay for my kids uniforms. The amount is paid back fully through deductions in future payments but it's zero percent interest and the only was I can get a bulk amount to cover all school expenses.

If you get moved to universal credid you can no longer get a budgeting loan.

Yet another reason I'm terrified of getting the letter saying I'm being moved over.

[SlurplePurple]

I can see where op spends it.
I have 2 in school and branded uniform even in primary for polos and jumpers. 2 jumpers each and 3 polos each is;
£15x4 jumpers £60
£9x6 polos £56
£40x2 shoes £80
£5x6 Trousers £30
£30x2 coats £60
£15x2 Pe kit £30

Total £316. But that’s for just 2 children and relying on washing at least twice a week to keep it clean.
That’s without extras of bag/drinks bottle/trainers that I’m guessing would all be needed for secondary school and the pe kit would also cost much more.

[NaturatintGoldenChestnut]

YANBU

[WindsweptEgret]

I can certainly see how you could spend it to set a child up, but not every year. I buy to allow two years growth, then there is the option of second hand, or hand downs with multiple children.

[Noonemournsthewicked]

Look in local charity shops as well. There's a fantastic rail of local school uniforms in a charity shop near me but the daft thing is you need a car ideally to get to this shop.

In your situation OP I'd do a mix of new and second hand stuff rather than buying every single child brand new. UC means that you can't do what you've previously done so you need to come at it from a different angle.

[GregoryPeckingDuck]

Blimey. Maybe I should convince DH to stop working and claim UC. We might be able to actually afford our two children then.

[CupcakeDrama]

Its not a freebie GregoryPeckingDuck it all has to be pid back and is taken directly out of your benefits

[CupcakeDrama]

pid= paid*

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

Maybe I should convince DH to stop working and claim UC. We might be able to actually afford our two children then.

Why don’t you?

[Fiveredbricks]

£40 on shoes each? You taking the piss OP?

They really need to start 'budgeting' classes in the community 😳 even with 5 kids £812 is taking the p. Are they gold leafed?

[Fiveredbricks]

@SlurplePurple schools cannot enforce that uniform is branded. Supermarkets and generic uniform outfitters are perfectly adequate.

[LakieLady]

The cost of uniforms is shocking imo. I've had clients in tears when a new head announces that the uniform is changing again (why do new HTs do this?).

The obsession with logo'd clothes means that it's often impossible to buy stuff from chain stores and supermarkets and parents are forced to buy expensive stuff from specialist suppliers who know they've got a captive market and capitalise on it by flogging cheap crap at top prices.

Someone showed me her daughter's new school jumper. It was awful acrylic stuff that was never going to keep its shape, the knit was so thin it was almost see through and it cost £28 - for a 4-year old!

I think they should produce the logo in label form, so that parents could buy plain navy or whatever from chain stores/supermarkets and sew the logo on themselves.

[Meckity1]

My son's school insists on particular blazers from one shop which cost £55 at year 7. Some schools are more expensive than others

[LakieLady]

The lady with the £28 jumper managed to get a 2nd hand blazer. She was overjoyed!

[daisypond]

But you surely don't buy a whole new set of uniform each school year? My DC had a blazer that was bought for y7 and lasted up to the end of y11. - admittedly a little big at the start. For the whole of secondary, I replaced a few school shirts - standard white jobs available from any supermarket. School skirts I probably bought three in the entire 5 years. Jumper - two or three over 5 years.. School tie -once. PE kit - bought once and lasted the whole time.

[Queenfreak]

I've no idea where to get school shoes from.
The shoes aimed at girls in clarks look so flimsy and impractical, yet surely they run around and scruff around just as much as boys, because they're all just kids!

[x2boys]

I didn't think schools could insist on one shop? £55 for a blazer is ridiculous though my sons was brand new from a local.uniform shop.and cost £22 .

[LakieLady]

I buy to allow two years growth

My mum did this when I got a scholarship to a private school with a hideously expensive uniform (the blazer alone cost a week's wages).

I stopped growing when I was 12. My games skirt was still down to my knees in the lower sixth, when everyone else's was the length of a tennis skirt.

[Lokidokiartichoki]

My son was a 5ft 0 6 stone skinny weed in year 7 - he starts year 11 in September at 6ft 3 and 12.5 stones of rugby playing muscle - no way could he even fit his arm in his old blazer 🤣

[CupcakeDrama]

So buy “boys” ones then Queenfreak

[BoardingSchoolMater]

I was a bit evangelical about buying my DC expensive school shoes until I had a child who managed to shred a pair of Start Rites within three weeks. She did this on a regular basis (has big brothers, so was a very rough and tumble type little girl). I then switched to cheaper M&S/Tesco, and they lasted about the same time. If you're anywhere near an outlet place, Clarks shoes are about £20, which would halve your shoe bill. I think girls' shoes aren't meant to be used, though - it seems they are just supposed to 'look pretty', though that's a whole other story.

[Roomba]

If you check the small print, there is actually a budgeting loan system for those on UC. But you have to have been on UC for over 6m and not earned over £2-3k per annum for the period before you were on UC IIRC. Which rules out almost everyone from claiming. Would love someone to do a FOI request to see how many people have applied and been awarded them.

www.gov.uk/budgeting-help-benefits/eligibility

[SciFiScream]

My DD has funny feet (beautiful though) but almost impossible to shod.

She's a size f or g fitting. She has plantar fasciitis and can't have flat shoes. They need to grip her feet properly and stand up to Scottish weather.
Her recent boots for winter at school (and the only pair of shoes that fit and met the requirements) cost a mind blowing, terrifying £130 but we had no choice.
If the OP has an funny feet amongst her kids then shoes can be expensive.

My DS on the other hand can wear much cheaper shoes so it balances out.

DD's boots have almost worn through so we're saving up for summer shoes.

[MinisterforCheekyFuckery]

OP I work in a school. We have a large bank of donated uniform and PE kit, all of it brand new or in very good condition, that we give to parents who are struggling to provide their own for whatever reason. It's done very discreetly so as not to cause any embarrassment to DC. Speak to your school's pastoral team and see if they do anything similar.

[Mrscog]

M&S are a good middle ground for shoes. DS's are £20 per pair and tend to last the full year. Presumably you can hand some uniform down? My DS is year 2 and has had the same 3 sweatshirts since reception. DS2 starts in September and he will be using them next. But yes, I agree with your point that it is a disadvantage to get rid of the loans.

[Maryann1975]

Another one wondering why you are buying everything new and not getting second hand or passing stuff down between your children. Even with the uniform change at one of schools, I have still saved some of it for younger children. I also make them wear uniform more than once, it doesn’t all need to be clean on each day, which saves having to buy 5 of everything which would bumps the price up.
But more practically for the question you are asking about. Can you not do it the other way round- instead of paying back the loan, can you put a little bit aside each week and then pay for the uniform upfront? It might be harder, depending how many weeks you normally pay the loan back over, but you might have to cut down this year or make them wear this years school shoes/trousers/polo shirts until they are grown out of, surely not all 5 dc will need new shoes and uniform in September, a couple of them will still fit in this years stuff presumably? I have no ambition of ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’ and if it still fits, they keep wearing it until it doesn’t fit. If you look closely at other children a lot of them are also in last years uniform, you don’t have to have new everything each year. How old are your dc, surely the older ones would understand this?