Over Priced School Uniforms

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you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/school-uniform

Many schools are now enforcing school uniform policies that force parents to buy from a single supplier. The result of this is that the cost of a complete school uniforms is now approaching £300 per pupil at many schools.

DfES guidelines state that "No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice, due to the cost of the uniform"

On top of that, the CMA has written an open letter to schools warning that their policies may in fact be in breach of competition law.

In November 2015, the then chancellor George Osborne promised to make government guidance on school uniform legally binding, giving parents the power to challenge extortionate uniform requirements, however nothing has been done by the government in the interim.

Yesterday, we were featured on Stray FM with the goal of getting a broad range of support up and down the country so that we can force politicians into resolving the crisis that extortionate uniform costs are placing many parents into.

Please sign our petition on 38 degrees and help us achieve this goal for parents up and down the country.

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/school-uniform

I've signed this. I used to be pretty happy with our school uniform. Even though the school uniform shop in the town has now closed down, and we can only buy from one shop online, I still thought it was pretty affordable. But now the cost of our school's PE kit has quadrupled. Instead of being able to buy a school logo polo shirt at around £12 plus generic shorts, we now have to buy a full sports team kit at a cost of £92. That doesn't even include shin pads, football socks, trainers and football boots. We are not on a low income but it is still a struggle to afford all of these items. The head teacher said that they changed this because they'd had feedback about how good the students looked in their sports team kit when they were out playing matches against other schools.

We also have to buy blouses with the school logo, which cost £10 each. The logo is rarely visible as students have to wear their blazer at all times, except when it is very hot.

Our youngest child will be starting school next year and we will have to save hundreds of pounds just to buy his uniform, P.E. kit and shoes.