Paying for your kids school uniform can be very expensive and sometimes you cant afford it all, now parents and guardians can get a grant for up to £150 from your local council to help pay towards for all your children school uniforms if you are struggling financially. Not every council will not do the school uniform grant due to differing budgets. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the local councils are required to help with the costs.
Schools have been called upon to add value for money criteria to their uniform policies under the new recent School Uniform Bill, The School Uniform Bill will now change how expensive uniforms will be. The bill has been approved but we need to wait until all the parents can see their local schools lower the uniform costs.
Who Is Eligible?
The Grant should be accessible to any household that has low income who also might get free school meals. Usually you will be eligible if you receive any of these benefits:
- Universal Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Income Support
- Employment Support Allowance
- Job Seekers Allowance
- State Pension
- Support under Part IV of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- If you don’t receive any of these benefits and still have a low income if you approach your council and explain your situation you might be able to get help.
How To Apply For The School Uniform Grant?
Each council will do it differently if they do decide to do the grant, usually the councils will start to take applications between 30th June and 30 September. If you need a new school uniform grant the following year you will have to reapply for that year.
In England:
On the government website you can check if your local council is providing the school uniform grants by entering in your postcode and it will then take you to your own councils uniform policy page. They will then show you how to access the grant and how much you might get.
In Scotland:
Councils in Scotland are required to provide grants of at least £100 to cover uniform costs, you will need to apply to your local council and the amount you will receive will be up to them. The cash grant is available for primary and secondary age children. The £100 you will receive will be used for uniform clothing and school shoes.
In Wales:
All councils in Wales will provide a £125 grant towards uniform and sports kit costs, the grant in Wales is called Pupil Development Grant instead of school uniform grant. If your child is entering year 7 in Wales they will get a grant of £200 as there re more costs when starting secondary school.
In Northern Ireland:
In Northern Ireland you will need to apply to the Education Authority for the Clothing Allowance Scheme. If your child goes into primary school you might receive £35.75, £73 for secondary children under 15s and £78 for kids over the ago of 15.
How Does The School Uniform Grant Get Paid?
It depends on the council on when the grant is paid and if you are successful in the application the grant would normally be issued in the summer months so you can prepare for the new school year. The grant is normally paid by cheque but you will have to ask your local council on how will you get paid if your successful.
If you are not successful with the grant there are plenty of other options to ask for help with school uniform like:
Nearly New- There is plenty of schools that will offer nearly new if you reach out to your child’s school and ask if they do it. Nearly new sells school uniform cheaper and also PE kits, it is due to other parents who have donated school uniform or if its been in the lost and found section for far too long.
Online- You can look on Facebook Market place or you can either look on eBay.
Turn2us- You can use Turn2us to help you search for grants to help pay towards your child’s school uniform.
