Calls for Stockton Council to sell discounted school uniform

The meeting heard parents need "deep pockets" to kit children out for school

Calls have been made for a council to open a discounted school uniform shop, as parents face mounting debt in order to pay for required "badged" clothing.

Stockton Council's people select committee was asked if the council could buy uniform direct from suppliers and sell to parents at a cheaper price.

It heard how some families are paying "hundreds of pounds" for uniforms branded with school logos and emblems.

Fairer Stockton said the council would look at "what else we need to do".

Councillor David Reynard, who represents Billingham West and Wolviston, asked "why as a council do we not have a uniform shop? I think that could be something to be looked at."

"We have the power as a council to go direct to suppliers and we can get it at a cheaper cost than you could get it from stores."

Billingham Central Councillor Barry Woodhouse said the solution lay in "uniformity" rather than uniform, suggesting pupils should wear plain black clothing and trainers.

"No logos, no fancy stuff," he stressed. "You get a stupid little badge, on the lapel or whatever, and you're paying £30 or £40 or £50 extra for it. Ridiculous."

Councillor Shakeel Hussain, for Ropner ward told the Local Democracy Reporting Service getting uniform was a "struggle" for many.

"When you do, you need really, really deep pockets. You're looking in the hundreds for even just one child.

"There are different coloured ties and the logos are different colours for each year group," he added. "It's really, really hard."

'Big fear'

"It's definitely something we'll take away," said Haleem Ghafoor, strategic lead for Fairer Stockton-on-Tees.

"We have tried to pull together what is already on offer as part of the cost of living online hub, and a lot of the schools do offer pre-loved school uniforms," he said.

Tracey Herrington, manager of Norton-based charity Thrives, said she was seeing "people struggling and stretching" leading to "arrears, sanctions and debt from costs like school uniforms and school trips".

"Mothers are feeling inadequate, they're feeling they're letting their child down," she said. "The things they may have been able to do, at a stretch, in the past, they're not able to do anymore. That's a big fear for parents."

Ms Herrington called on the local authority to be "more vocal regarding policy decisions".

"It's about talking to the people in your communities and asking: 'What are your needs? What's costing you? What's taking money out of your purses and wallets?'"

One councillor called out the "ridiculous" prices on uniform bearing school logos