According to the Children’s Society, one in eight families were cutting back on food to afford school uniform before the pandemic.

In anticipation of schools being given the green light to reopen fully to all children, B&NES Labour Group’s Spokesperson for Education, Cllr Liz Hardman (Labour, Paulton) has written to all schools in this area urging them to adopt a flexible approach to breaches of uniform policy over the coming months.

The plea comes at a time when the Children’s Society is campaigning for more affordable school uniforms.

The campaign follows its report last year which found that even before the pandemic took hold, one in eight families had cut back on food to meet the cost of uniform while one in ten families reported getting into debt trying to pay for uniform.

43% of parents said the cost of school uniform alone had affected their families in some way.

B&NES Labour Group supports Mike Amesbury’s Private Members Bill which is currently going through Parliament. The Education Bill would cut the costs of school uniform in England. It was meant to go through its next stage in Parliament in January however the debate which needs to happen for the bill to become law has been postponed due to lockdown.

As Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg has the power to set a new date and B&NES Labour Group is urging residents to write to him to ask him to do so.