School uniform grant

donnap79

Hi I live in Essex and there’s no school uniform grant wirh the council unless it’s under emergency grounds I’m wondering if anyone had any advice whete I could apply my daughter is disabled has an ECHP in place and going in to yr 7 we are on low income benefits and her uniform is expensive and the school is strict I just don’t want her to stand out and not have new things or the right uniform you see as it’s going to be hard enough for her she doesn’t even know anyone at her new school either so everything is going to be difficult to adjust to anyway 

woodbine

Does your daughter get DLA? I always thought all councils gave uniform grants, must have changed, I supposed the good news is that uniforms are now dirt cheap.
Some schools sell second hand uniforms, have you asked them?

Cressida

@donnap79 I'm not sure this is every area but I read recently that most schools do have a hardship fund which can be given for things like this but don't necessarily advertise them. Have you tried phoning the school? Most secondary schools have 'used uniform' sales so you could also enquire about those at the same time. 

cazza6565

I also thought every council offered clothing grants. My daughter handed old uniforms in to a charity shop specifically for school uniforms, not sure if they have one near you though.

MarkM88

My area doesn’t have uniform grants either. Is there a uniform bank in the area? 

janer1967

Hi there 

I thought when children moved up to secondary school the school provides a full set of uniform free of charge 

This certainly happened in my sons case 

Maybe it was down to my local authority 

Most schools allow shop bought uniform apart from the blazer and tie eg shirts  skirts 

MarkM88

janer1967 said:

I thought when children moved up to secondary school the school provides a full set of uniform free of charge 

Must be area specific then, I certainly never got free uniform when I moved up to secondary, my 3 brothers went to the same school and my sister attends it now and never has. 

donnap79

Most thinks like blazer etc have to be purchased from the school so you can’t even get them any where else cheaper which is £29 before anything else most of the P.E kit has to have school badge on too they have an indoor kit and an outdoor kit so the tops for them are £18 each my daughter is only tiny so they’are the prices of the first sizes they go up in size then there’s other uniform too but secondary schools are really strict plus all kids want to have new uniforms so I wouldn’t ask the school if they have second hand uniform. I just think it’s bad that they have such a strict uniform but expect parents to be able to afford it all
?

MarkM88

You could have a look at the grant search on turn 2 us website. 

janer1967

My sons school is strict too and yes blazer,  tie and pe kit all have to be bought from school uniform provider 

But as I said b4 my son got full set of everything 
2 trousers   4 shirts   1 blazer,  1 tie and both indoor and outdoor pe kit in his first year of secondary all supplied by school at mo cost 

I have had to buy since that first allocation 

poppy123456

My children never got any free school uniform either. I remember how hard it was trying to buy uniform for 3 children. Thankfully, i don't have that problem now because they've all left school.

donnap79

When my other children was in school we lived in a different part Of the country and that was a few yrs back now and I think wirh my oldest daughter we use to get school uniform grants then some areas still do them I’m aware you can in wales and Scotland and some parts of England but it’s down to the county council area you live in and mine is only in emergency cases it’s sad really because it does put a lot of pressure on parents especially as you have to get everything with school logo on in secondary school snd most of the stuff has to be purchased from a school shop so as you can imagine it’s not cheap not even the tie ??‍♀️

poppy123456

Yes, i did see that it's only certain local Authorities that do the grant. They range from £25 up to £150 but some have none at all. If your income is very low would that not be classed as an emergency? I know this doesn't help you now but maybe you can put a couple of pounds in a tin between now and next summer, this will then be a big help ready for next September.