Single mum calls for ban on ‘extortionate’ £200 school uniform costs

A single mum is campaigning to reduce the cost of school uniforms.

Tired of struggling to afford branded school uniforms, Claire Rigby started a petition on Change.org, a platform which is used to put pressure on government to implement shifts in policy.

“I am a single mum and work 60 hours a week and can’t afford everything on the year 7 list, so I dread to think how the unemployed are managing,” Rigby says of the financial pressure to buy her child the right uniform.

READ MORE: School introduces a dress code for parents at school gates

She says that schools’ insistence on parents only buying uniform from approved sellers means she’s spending “upwards of £200” on clothing for a single child.

“Most schools have now put a ban on sewing on your own badges to reduced price uniforms from supermarkets,” writes Rigby.

“Stop making us buy from approved sellers. Special skirts for primary schools isn’t needed, plain blue, black, or grey is more than adequate.”

“A school uniform for one child can cost upwards of £200. This is extortion and a scandal,” she adds later down in the post.

Rather than wearing head-to-toe branded uniform, she suggested a “simple badge to pin on” should be deemed sufficient.

She also draws attention to the prevalence in the UK of uniform banks, initiatives which aim to provide families in financial hardship with new and second-hand clothing items.

READ MORE: More schools are considering banning skirts

“This is concrete evidence that the cost is way too high for the average parent,” she says, ending her post with a plea: “MPs please help us!”

Some 769 people have signed the petition since Rigby started it a week ago.

School uniform has prompted many a conversation in recent months, with one school allowing male pupils to wear shorts this summer after they protested wearing skirts.

In a pioneering move, the Welsh government announced they would be making all school uniforms in Wales gender neutral, a change which comes into effect from 1 September.