Westminster City Council announced in July 2022 that new funding to help families with the cost of school uniforms would be available as part of a package of measures to help residents struggling with the rising cost of living.
As part of the budget passed in March 2023, the council agreed to fund the scheme for another academic year, allocating a further £85,000 to schools.
The School Uniform Support Scheme will continue to help families residing in Westminster who have children in Reception and Year Six of a Westminster primary school from September 2023. Parents of pupils in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) starting school for the first time, and those moving to secondary school will be provided with funds directly from their school to go towards the cost of uniforms.
The extension of the scheme starts from September 2023 and will provide £150 towards the cost of a secondary school uniform for pupils that will be starting year 7 of secondary school, and £31 for children due to start in Reception from September.
Parents will need to contact their child’s primary school to receive the grant for both Reception age children and new Year 7 children.
The new fund is in addition to existing support available to disadvantaged families via schools and the council’s Early Help services. Parents are also able to receive financial help from charities supporting young people, such as John Lyons Charity and the Portal Trust.
Cllr Tim Roca, Deputy Leader, and Cabinet Member for Young People, Learning and Leisure, said:
I’m proud to announce an extension of our school uniform grant funding of up to £85,000 for 2023/24, providing direct support to our most disadvantaged families to help with school uniform costs.
We know that parents and schools saw a positive change for students in the first year of this scheme, with some reflecting that this help made a real difference for relieving financial stress from parents and for making sure children feel happy to attend school in a new uniform.
Claire Cleary, Deputy Head of Gateway Academy said:
The money from the free school uniform funding has helped parents in lots of different ways. For Year 6 the jump in cost for when children go to secondary school is quite high especially for things like blazers and school shoes, so parents were really grateful that the uniform was already sorted.
Published: 29 June 2023