'Parents have faced crushing cost of sending their children to school for far too long...'

Cap on number of branded uniform items schools require as poll finds a quarter of parents sacrifice food or heating to afford it

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MORE than one in four parents will go without food or heating to afford school uniform, a survey has suggested.

A poll of 2,000 parents of school-age children in England found nearly half (45 per cent) use credit cards to pay for uniform, while more than a third (34 per cent) use 'buy now, pay later' schemes.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of parents are worried about the cost of buying uniform for the start of the school year, according to the poll for charity Parentkind.

The Education Secretary has called on schools to reduce the number of branded items of uniform they require ahead of an incoming change in the law.

Speaking ahead of the new term, Bridget Phillipson said no family should have to choose between 'putting food on the table' and buying school uniform.

Her comments come as a survey, carried out by Censuswide between July 31 and August 7, found 29 per cent of parents said they will go 'without heating or eating' to pay for school uniform.

Nearly a third (31 per cent) of parents said they were likely to go into debt to buy school uniform.