Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average costs to parents of providing school uniform for pupils attending (1) primary, and (2) secondary, state schools.

The department’s last report on the cost of school uniform, 'Cost of School Uniform 2015', was published in June 2015. This report found the average cost of school uniform was £212.88. At primary level the average cost was £192.14 for boys and £201.04 for girls, and at secondary level the average cost was £231.01 for boys and was £239.93 for girls. The report is attached.

In 2021, the department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform to ensure uniform is affordable for all families. This states that “school governing boards should give high priority to considerations of cost for parents, and they should be able to demonstrate how best value for money has been achieved when developing or making any change to their uniform policy”. It also sets out that branded items should be kept to a minimum. The guidance came into force in 2022 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.

In December 2023, the department ran a repeat of the 2015 survey, asking parents about the cost of school uniform in 2023. The department is currently analysing the resulting data and expects to publish our findings later this spring.