'Let's cut cost of school uniform to help parents'

URGENT action is needed to cut the amount parents pay for uniforms, the Education Secretary says.

- By David Williamson

A draft law which will stop schools insisting their pupils’ parents buy more than three branded items — excluding a tie — will go before the House of Lords this week.

The average parent shells out £442 to kit a child out for secondary school, or £343 for primary school pupils, according to the Department for Education.

It claimed a third of parents worry about the cost, and that one in five said their school has increased the number of branded items required. Fewer than three in 10 schools have reduced the overall cost of uniform items.