The importance of cost consideration
The School Admissions Code 2012, which is statutory guidance, states “Admission authorities must ensure that [...] policies around school uniform or school trips do not discourage parents from applying for a place for their child.” No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice, due to the cost of the uniform. School governing bodies should therefore give high priority to cost considerations. The governing body should be able to demonstrate how best value has been achieved and keep the cost of supplying the uniform under review.
When considering how the school uniform should be sourced, governing bodies should give highest priority to the consideration of cost and value for money for parents. The school uniform should be easily available for parents to purchase and schools should seek to select items that can be purchased cheaply, for example in a supermarket or other good value shop. Schools should keep compulsory branded items to a minimum and avoid specifying expensive items of uniform eg expensive outdoor coats.
Governing bodies should be able to demonstrate that they have obtained the best value for money from suppliers. Any savings negotiated with suppliers should be passed on to parents wherever possible. Schools should not enter into cash back arrangements. Exclusive single supplier contracts should be avoided unless regular tendering competitions are run where more than one supplier can compete for the contract and where best value for parents is secured.
The Department for Education has produced guidance on general procurement issues for schools and academies (see ‘Further Sources of Information’ below).
Local authorities and academies might choose to provide school clothing grants or to help with the cost of school clothing in cases of financial hardship2. Individual schools may also wish to consider running their own schemes to provide assistance, particularly for supporting new intakes of children entering the school or in the event of substantial changes to the existing uniform. Schools should avoid frequent changes to uniform specifications.

Complaints and challenges to school uniform policy
Disputes about school uniforms should be resolved locally and should be pursued in accordance with the school’s complaints policy. In law, governing bodies must have a complaints procedure in place to deal with issues such as a complaint about school uniform. Parents should be able to lodge their complaints and/or objections easily. We do expect the governing body to consult and work closely with parents to arrive at a mutually acceptable outcome. If a school has in place a contract with a specific supplier, the governing body should ensure that the supplier has an agreed procedure to deal with parental complaints about the supply and quality of uniform.
Governors should be willing to consider reasonable requests for flexibility in the uniform policy for an individual pupil to accommodate particular social and cultural circumstances.