Cost of living crisis: Majority of schools giving pupils uniform, clothing and food
The vast majority of schools are providing uniforms, clothing and food for children – including supplying free school meals to non-eligible pupils – as the cost of living crisis continues to hit families hard
A staggering 95% of mainstream schools and 87% of special schools have provided uniform and clothing items to pupils, a new research report has revealed.
Published by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), the report also finds that 90% of schools are subsidising extra-curricular activities for some pupils while 70% report providing food to pupils via food parcels, food banks, food vouchers, or subsidised breakfasts (Lucas et al, 2023).
Some schools said they were even providing free school meals to pupils who were not eligible for the funding.
The study involved some 2 600 teachers and senior leaders. Other less common examples of support being offered by a minority of schools included ‘warm banks’, support with school transport costs, and facilities for washing clothes.
The study has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation and finds that 84% of senior leaders report an increase in the numbers of pupils needing additional support due to the cost of living crisis.
And it is not just pupils who are eligible for the Pupil Premium who are requiring this support – the study involves many schools where a significant number of non-FSM children are accessing help.
The school leaders also report that increases in the cost-of-living have led to an increase in safeguarding concerns, behaviour incidents and absenteeism, particularly in secondary and more disadvantaged schools.
The cost of living has disproportionately hit food costs and many of the schools said they were not only providing food parcels or vouchers to pupils but supporting families too.
The report states: ‘Many schools are not only supporting pupils, but also providing support to pupils' households. For example, around half of secondary and special schools are providing food parcels/food banks to pupils' households (50% and 48% respectively) and this rises to 59% of primary schools.’
Elsewhere, the revelations about school uniform come despite government statutory guidance last year (DfE, 2021) ordering schools to keep costs down for families and to limit the use of branded items.
However, research last term found that some schools are demanding students wear five or even seven items of branded school uniform, driving up costs for families and flying in the face of the guidance.
A study from The Children's Society involving 2 000 parents and carers found that on average secondary school uniforms are costing families £422 per-student, per-year and that uniform policies are demanding an average of three branded items. At primary level, costs were hitting £287 a year.
NFER research director and report co-author, Jenna Julius, said: ‘The cost-of-living crisis is having a profound impact on pupils and families. Schools are providing unprecedented levels of urgent support. Pupils whose most basic needs are not being met – whether it is going to school hungry, or being unable to afford uniform or transport costs – are less likely to attend school and successfully engage with learning.
‘Without urgent action now there is a risk that the crisis will have far-reaching and long-lasting impacts on pupils.’
The report makes a number of recommendations, including calling on the government to extend the current eligibility for FSMs in mainstream schools.
The report adds: ‘At the absolute minimum, this should involve uprating the income threshold for eligibility to reflect inflationary pressures since 2018/19.’
It adds: ‘In the short term, families should be provided with additional support, which might include revisiting current levels of welfare support for families and/or additional cost-of-living payments.’
Commenting on the findings, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘In the vast majority of schools, it is becoming increasingly necessary to provide welfare support for pupils. School staff provide this support out of a duty of care and because they need to ensure pupils are fit to learn, but this is not a long-term solution.
‘It is completely unacceptable that so many young people are going without their basic needs being met. The government has to do more to help families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and provide the sustained investment necessary to tackle child poverty.
‘We agree with the recommendations made in this report and in particular the urgent need to extend the FSMs scheme. Even before the cost-of-living crisis, there were children living in poverty who were not eligible for FSMs. An extension of the scheme to all families in receipt of Universal Credit is long overdue.
‘Introducing a system of auto-enrolment would also be hugely beneficial as 11% of pupils who are eligible are not currently taking advantage of the scheme.’
- DfE: Statutory guidance: Cost of school uniforms, 2021: https://tinyurl.com/28bryreb
- Lucas et al: Cost-of-living crisis: Impact on schools (pupils and families), NFER, September 2023: https://tinyurl.com/2x85uupx
Cost of living crisis: The pupils so hungry they are stealing food at school
Children coming to school in clothes that are too small, without equipment and too tired for learning, without enough money for lunch, and so hungry that they are stealing food from other pupils…
Problems caused by poverty are becoming so severe that a majority of school staff are being diverted from their core duties as they deal with the consequences.
Indeed, 70% of headteachers say that more and more parents are asking schools for help with essentials such as food and clothing.
The harrowing findings have been published by the Education Anti-Poverty Coalition, which is convened by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).
Official figures tell us that 4.2 million children are now living in relative poverty (household income below 60% of the median after housing costs).
This is 29% of all UK children. Of these, 2.7 million are living in ‘deep poverty’ – families below 50% of the median income (DWP, 2023).
The study involved 1 023 professionals working mainly in primary and secondary schools in England. Findings include:
- Time is being diverted from allocated roles to combat the consequences of child poverty (79%).
- Children in poverty have fallen further behind their peers in learning (74%).
- Child poverty in school has increased in the last two academic years (89%, rising to 97% of the senior leaders who responded).
- More families who were previously managing financially are now struggling to cope (88%).
Tasks that are diverting school staff from their main roles include dealing with dinner money debt and referrals to specialist services as well as sourcing support including food bank vouchers, hardship grants, children's clothes, and even things like washing machines.
Half of the respondents added that this work was being made even harder due to staffing cuts because of the school funding crisis.
Clothing, food, and fatigue are three of the most pressing issues: 53% of teachers in the survey reported an increase in the number of pupils struggling to concentrate on their learning due to hunger and fatigue – this compared to two years ago.
And 68% of the respondents say there are more pupils who don't have money for enough food at lunch.
Meanwhile, more families are struggling with uniform and PE kit requirements (78%) and more children are coming to school in ill-fitting or worn-out clothes (72%). And 76% of the secondary staff responding said that increasing numbers of pupils don't have all the equipment they need for lessons.
Comments from respondents to the study included:
- ‘Two pupils were caught stealing food from other pupils.’ (Primary school in the South-West).
- ‘More children are expressing feeling worried about their family finances. Some children tell me they avoid asking their parents for essential equipment, or telling them about clubs and trips, as they do not want to add to their financial stress.’ (Secondary school in the West Midlands).
- ‘Children are tired and lethargic, extremely hungry.’ (Primary school in the South-West).
- ‘Worn clothing and footwear, learners complaining of being hungry and seeking more food during the day or seconds at lunch time, inability to concentrate, admitting they can't get xyz (items for school) until their parents receive their pay (living paycheck to paycheck).’(Secondary school in the North-East).
The findings come at a time when food insecurity is rising, with 21% of children who live in relative poverty now also living in food-insecure households (DWP, 2023).
The Institute of Fiscal Studies has reported, meanwhile, that despite 30% of families on Universal Credit being considered ‘food insecure’, 69% of families on Universal Credit are not eligible for free school meals (FSMs) – this equates to 1.7 million children. To be eligible, families must have an after-tax income of less than £7 400 a year (Cribb et al, 2023).
The figures have sparked calls to introduce universal FSMs, or at least to ensure that FSMs are offered to all families on Universal Credit.
It comes after the Joseph Rowntree Foundation cost of living tracker warned in January that 6 in 10 of the poorest families either cut down on or skipped meals for adults in the home because there was not enough money for food.
Head of education policy at CPAG Kate Anstey said: ‘Child poverty is ripping through our schools, warping the way they work and jeopardising children's learning and life chances. As urgent first steps, ministers must widen eligibility for free school meals, boost help with school-related costs and increase child benefit. That's the minimum needed to give staff their time back and prevent millions of children from falling even further behind.’
- CPAG: There is only so much we can do: School staff in England on the impact of poverty on children and school life, 2023: https://tinyurl.com/mtbvukkv
- Cribb et al: The policy menu for school lunches: options and trade-offs in expanding free school meals in England, Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2023: https://tinyurl.com/mtuemwkn
- DWP: National statistics: Households Below Average Income: An analysis of the UK income distribution, 2023: https://tinyurl.com/5ezubsyc
Councils lose 96% of SEND disputes at tribunal – at a cost of £60m
Almost 10 000 SEN unit places could have been funded with the money that councils wasted on unsuccessful court disputes with parents and carers seeking SEND support for their children.
Of 11 052 SEND tribunals registered by councils in 2021/22, a staggering 96% were won by parents, carers, and young people. The result is £59.8m of public money wasted on SEND tribunals – enough to fund SEN unit placements for 9 960 young people.
Furthermore, nearly 3 500 further cases were withdrawn or conceded before they got to tribunal hearing.
The disturbing figures have been revealed in a study commissioned by the Disabled Children's Partnership and published by Pro Bono Economics (Jemal and Kenley, 2023).
Furthermore, the number of SEND tribunals being brought is rising – with the 11 052 hearings in 2021/22 representing a 29% increase on 2020/21.
Tribunals are brought by parents, carers and young people who wish to dispute council decisions about the provision of Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs).
EHCPs are a legal document issued by a local authority which identifies a child's educational, health and social needs and sets out the support that will be provided to meet those needs, including at school.
The £59.8m bill racked up by the lost tribunal cases is split between local authorities and the courts – they cost local authorities £46.2m and the courts £13.6m.
The study also reveals the significant strain being placed on children and young people, as well as their parents and carers, while they battle for support.
For the families it includes financial costs – often thousands of pounds – because of the time-consuming process and the ‘hundreds of hours spent preparing for tribunals’, which often affects their ability to work. For the students it includes developmental delays, deteriorating mental and physical health, and poor academic performance.
The report states: ‘There are likely to be both short and long-term costs that accrue while children and young people with SEND are waiting for suitable support.
‘From additional treatment and equipment needs, to developmental delays, and from dropped academic grades to additional use of the foster care system, the costs to the taxpayer and the negative outcomes for children, young people and their families can rapidly accumulate.’
As of January 2023, there were more than half a million children and young people in England with EHCPs. The number has surged, with more than twice as many new EHCPs issued in 2022 than in 2015, when they were first introduced.
The study says that this reflects increased awareness and understanding of SEN, as well as a growing number of parents and carers ‘recognising that they need an EHCP in place for their child's needs to be adequately met’.
But local authorities are now taking much longer to come to their decisions. In 2022 for the first time, fewer than half of all EHCPs were issued within the statutory minimum of 20 weeks. And disagreements are growing. One SEND tribunal was registered for every six new EHCPs that were issued in 2021/22. The study says this is a result of several factors, including growing applications for EHCPs, local authority staff struggling to meet demand within ‘tight SEN budgets’, and ‘an erosion of trust between people seeking support and local authority staff’.
The authors of the study explained: ‘Disagreements can arise at any stage of the EHCP process and can occur for a variety of reasons, from a decision by a local authority not to assess for an EHCP, to a decision not to issue one after an assessment has been made, or because a parent/carer or young person disagrees with the content of a draft EHCP.’
Anoushka Kenley, head of advocacy at Pro Bono Economics, and co-author of the report, said the growing number of legal challenges to council decisions was ‘deeply worrying’. She continued: ‘Children and young people in need of support are having to go without it, parents and carers are being forced to give up time and money on tribunals, and cash-strapped councils are wasting millions on unsuccessful disputes.
‘The entire process is in need of a rethink, to keep children and their families from the stress and pain of going without the support they so desperately need. Getting it right would not only give these young people the best possible start in life, it would also benefit the economy as a whole.’
Stephen Kingdom, campaign manager at the Disabled Children's Partnership, added: ‘It is deeply against the British sense of fair play to pit parents and carers of disabled children against highly paid barristers paid for by local authorities from money that comes out of the public purse.
‘It is particularly unfair when you understand that these tribunal cases, that can take years, are lost by local authorities in the vast majority of cases because parents know what is best for their children.
‘We are calling for more information, advice for parents and young people; for better training for local council staff so they make the right, lawful decisions first time; and, crucially, stronger accountability.’
Commenting on the report, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: ‘What we are seeing here is the manifestation of a broken system. School staff, governors and parents can see the underlying issue is that the system for supporting children with SEND is too often skewed so it is based upon the resources available rather than pupils’ needs. Councils simply do not have the resources to meet the growing demand they are facing.
‘While the government's new SEND plan contained some sensible ideas, it did not address this funding gap. We've heard of schools who have had to go into deficit to provide the right help for children. Schools are also hamstrung by a shortage of specialist staff, as well as funding, while there is a national shortage of special school places.’
The Disabled Children's Partnership is a coalition of more than 110 organisations that campaign for improved health and social care for disabled children, young people, and their families.
- Jemal & Kenley: Wasting money, wasting potential: The cost of SEND tribunals, Pro Bono Economics, September 2023