Surprisingly it seems that school uniform intended for children over 14 years old is subject to VAT. This level was set some years ago and today the parents of children much younger than 14 are paying 17.5% extra. Maybe this could be one area that the government could look at if they do decide to raise VAT to 20%? Dropping the VAT off all school uniform would help ease the overall burden on parents. You can see some more details here