Mark Murphy: School uniform IS too expensive for families

The new Labour government plans to limit the number of compulsory items of school uniform for our youngsters and for many parents it can’t come soon enough.

The cost-of-living crisis means some families are really struggling to buy all the items their children need.  

A survey by the Children’s Society shows more than two thirds of secondary school parents believe the cost of school uniform is not affordable.

Mark Russell, chief executive at the charity, said: “For the last two years, the high cost of living has put families under intense financial strain, so it is no wonder parents are feeling the pinch and are quite rightly fed up with having to pay more than they need to for their children’s school uniform. ” 

Whilst the exact number of branded items has yet to be announced by the government, the new education secretary has previously advocated for a maximum of just three mandatory items. 

Mark as a boy in his knitted school jumper (Image: Mark Murphy)
I hope we can crack this once and for all - it takes me back over 50 years when my mum and dad were trying to make sure I had the correct clothing I needed to go to school.  

I’m all for school uniform but the cost of some items is eye-watering and of course they don’t last long as our children grow so quickly. 

At primary school, we had to wear a tie and jumper, no blazer.

Mum and dad couldn’t afford a school jumper for me, so mum knitted me one.

It fitted ok but was obviously not shop bought, so me and one or two others wearing similar were ridiculed for not having the proper jumper. We stood out as the poor kids.  

Fast forward a few years and I passed the 11-plus exam and qualified to go to grammar school.

All well and good until the uniform list came out. Talk about long! It felt like it was a mile in length.

Mum and dad gulped hard as I read out what I needed and where to buy it from. Blazer, shirt, tie, trousers, branded sweatshirt, football kit including boots, athletics kit, rugby kit including boots, cricket gear, it went on and on. Gradually as we accumulated what I needed, mum would be sewing name tags into everything.      

Somehow, they managed it, mainly down to a local authority grant and the Blue Cross sale at a local store. It put an enormous strain on our already poor household finances.  

Why did so much of it have to be branded, only available from I think two stores and so expensive? Nothing much seems to have changed over those 50 plus years.  

I think school uniform looks smart and means the children all look the same, but could it be cheaper for parents?

Surely a standard blazer with a sew on badge and a tie would be ok - would that not be enough? Trousers, skirts, PE kit ETC could then be supermarket own brands. 

I know you can get second hand uniforms but again why stigmatise those children who come from hard up families?  

I applaud what the government is looking at doing and I hope they do it quickly and we don’t have the same conversation in years to come.  

School kids pick on each other for all sorts of reasons. Let’s make sure one of them is not the clothes they wear.