More than one in 10 parents say their children’s school requires five or more branded items of uniform, despite a requirement to minimise their use.
A government survey reveals the requirement of branded items such as socks, shoes, trousers and coats is still fairly common.
The Department for Education’s cost of school uniforms 2023 survey found that parents are spending slightly less on school uniforms than they were a decade ago.
But there has been a “significant downward trend in satisfaction with the cost of school uniform and PE kit” over the past 17 years.
Schools are supposed to limit branded items
In 2021, the previous government put school uniform guidance on a statutory footing, ordering schools to rewrite uniform policies taking into account the “total cost of their school uniform”.
The intervention, enacted by a backbench law drawn up by Labour MP Mike Amesbury, followed a Schools Week investigation in 2018 that found one school that was selling branded “drama socks” for nearly £5 a pair.
The guidance states branded items must be kept to a minimum, and specifically singled-out having a logo on socks as “unnecessary”.
But that does not appear to have stopped some schools from making it a requirement. The survey found eight per cent of families reported that their school requied branded socks or tights.
Nine per cent reported needing branded shoes and 11 per cent reported a requirement of branded trousers.
Some schools require ‘5 or more’ branded items
Asked how many branded items were required by their school, 11 per cent of primary parents and 12 per cent of secondary said five or more, while 8 per cent of primary and 13 per cent of secondary parents said they required four.
The new Labour government has said it will limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require.
The survey also asked families what specific items, not just those with branding, were required as part of their school’s uniform policy.
The proportion of parents or carers reporting their school requiring socks as part of their uniform increased from 42 per cent in 2007 to 76 per cent in 2015. Between 2015 and 2023, the proportion fell slightly to 72 per cent.
More parents can shop around
The government’s guidance states that “cost and value for money for parents should be the most important consideration for governing boards when considering how school uniforms should be sourced”.
Parents “should be able to purchase generic items of uniform from a range of retailers giving them choice and value for money”.
The latest survey data shows the proportion of parents or carers who said they could buy all their child’s uniform and PE kit from any shop had increased from 17 per cent in 2015 to 24 per cent last year.
And fewer primary parents reported having to buy all their child’s uniform from designated shops or the school (6 per cent, down from 10 per cent).
However, the proportion of secondary parents reporting the same thing remained unchanged at 26 per cent.
Total spend down, but so is satisfaction
The survey found that the average total expenditure on school uniform last academic year was £249.58, compared with £279.51 for a similar period in 2014-15 after adjusting for inflation.
Average spending “reduced as the range of outlets from which parents/carers were allowed to purchase items increased”.
This was “significantly lower” where all uniform could be bought anywhere (£227.29) than where all had to be purchased from a designated shop or from a school (£283.90).
The average total spend on PE kit to date based on the items required in 2023 was £139.70 compared with £115.11 in 2015, also adjusted for inflation.
However, despite the real-terms decrease in average spending, the report warned of a “significant downward trend in satisfaction with the cost of school uniform”.
Just 56 per cent of families said they were happy with the cost of uniform last year, down from 69 per cent in 2015, and 75 per cent in 2007.
Since new guidance came in in 2021, 18 per cent of parents and carers said they had experienced changes in their child’s uniform.
This was more likely for pupils at secondary academies (27 per cent) than maintained secondaries (20 per cent) and primary schools (15 per cent).
And only 43 per cent of those reporting changes said they had been consulted.
