Hartlepool Council urges schools to address uniform cost

Parents are still finding uniform costs difficult to manage

Councillors are to write to their local schools to raise concerns about the "excessive" cost of uniforms.

Hartlepool councillor Rachel Creevy said families already facing child and family poverty needed support.

She urged the authority's audit and governance committee to ask schools to make uniforms more affordable.

Natalie Frankland, who runs a clothing bank, said she hoped "encouragement from local councillors" would have an impact on schools' policies.

Hartlepool Reloved Clothing provides free, second-hand uniforms to people struggling with costs.

Ms Frankland said it had given uniforms to more than 5,000 children in the last year and had seen a "huge increase" in demand.

"We speak to families on a daily basis who are having to make decisions around heating, eating and clothing," she said.

Rachel Creevy said schools should take action

Legislation came into effect in September last year requiring schools to make uniform affordable for all.

Ms Creevy told councillors some schools in Hartlepool still ask for branded PE kits, which she said was "a bit excessive".

Committee chair Jonathan Brash agreed to write to all heads and governing bodies to raise concerns, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Penny Thompson, head of housing, hardship and welfare services, said the council already had meetings with head teachers about the costs and the impact they have on households.

Uniform cost 'extortionate'

"They all have different reasons as to why they say they charge the prices they do," she said.

"They all also keep telling me, though, that they've all got second hand, recycling, pre-loved schemes in place for school uniforms."

Ms Frankland said parents found the cost of uniform "extortionate", especially when branded clothes were required.

"I am a huge believer in school uniforms and what they provide, such as a sense of community, belonging and pride, which is why we provide free, re-loved uniform," she said.

"We are currently working on projects to further ease pressures such as transferable logos, which can be stitched onto plain blazers, rather than parents having to purchase a branded blazer from a school provider."