Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: School uniforms could change for 4 million pupils - new rules explained

A government bill is proposing cutting the number of branded uniform items schools can require pupils buy

New analysis suggests the changes could impact back-to-school costs for more than 4 million children

It could also save families more than £70 million each year

A survey shows one in three parents are currently worried about uniform costs

Parents may soon only need to buy a few branded items for their child’s school uniform - in an effort to slash back-to-school costs.

On Monday (April 28), the Department for Education unveiled new analysis showing just how much of an impact school uniform changes proposed under its Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill could have. The wide-reaching piece of legislation is currently working its way through Parliament, and is due to proceed to the House of Lords this week.

Limiting the number of branded school uniform items schools can require parents to buy was just one pledge of many in Labour’s broad portfolio of education policies to emerge after the party’s election win last year, many of which fall within the scope of the new bill. The move comes in a bid to save families money, although industry experts have warned that it may lead to many purchasing lower quality items - which could cost them more in the long run.

But what does the Government’s new analysis show? How much does it estimate parents could save if the bill makes it through Parliament unchanged, and how many children and schools will be affected? Here’s what you need to know:  

The Government estimates that the changes will impact school uniform costs for some 4.2 million schoolchildren, across 8,000 schools. At the moment, parents were having to pay £442 on average to kit a child out for secondary school, and £343 for primary school, the analysis continued, “putting unnecessary financial pressure on families”.

Uniform costs still appear to be a struggle for many households, with a new survey showing that one in three parents were worried about them. While schools are already required by law to ‘limit’ the number of branded items pupils need to buy, the survey suggested almost half were not doing so - with 1 in 5 schools said to have actually increased the number of branded items children needed over the past year.

The DfE analysis suggested that the new uniform laws would save parents as much as £50 per year in their back-to-school shop - putting more money back into the hands of families. Collectively, it could shave an estimated £73 million per year off of the school uniform spend.

Under the bill as it currently stands, schools or local authorities that run them can’t require either primary or secondary pupils to buy more than three branded uniform items for use in a single school year. This included items like school bags, or PE kits required for lessons. Besides these items, families will be able to sub out other parts of the uniform for generic or unbranded versions, which are often considerably cheaper.

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