Below is a statement on the Schoolwear Association on the Government’s school uniform cap.
A comment from our Chair, Matthew Easter, for media use can be found below this statement.
For any media enquiries, please contact info@schoolwearassociation.com
The Schoolwear Association fully recognises and supports the importance of keeping school uniform costs as low as possible for families. That’s why our members work with schools every day to deliver high-quality, long-lasting uniform at fair prices, and to support lower income families through special discounts, flexible payment plans and swap shops. The sector’s efforts to keep costs low have been demonstrated by the fact that school uniform prices in 2025 fell in real terms for the third year in a row.
However, we continue to have significant concerns about the Government’s new cap on school uniform items. From September 2026, the number of branded uniform items which schools can mandate will be capped to three items per primary school pupil, and three items plus a tie per secondary school pupil.
While intended to reduce costs, this cap is likely to achieve the opposite. If parents are pushed into buying cheaper, lower-quality items from supermarkets, they will have to replace items more often, and they likely won’t be able to be handed down to other family members or made available in second hand shops. Some parents will also be pressured by their children into buying the latest fashion brands that are significantly more expensive than the uniform items they replace. In both instances, in the long term, the cost of clothing children for school will increase.
We are also concerned that:
- Pupil behaviour, academic attainment and cohesion will be negatively impacted. School specific uniform plays an important role in supporting academic performance and behaviour by allowing children to enter the classroom as equals, ready to concentrate on their studies. But our survey of specialist schoolwear retailers, who work closely with the schools they supply, found that schools are most concerned that the cap will increase visible inequality, that it will be harder to manage dress codes and that it will diminish the value of school uniform,
- Sports participation will be reduced. 85% of specialist schoolwear retailers say that their schools are planning to drop PE kit, which risks reduces sports participation, especially amongst teenage girls.
- Small businesses may have to lay off staff or close down. Many specialist schoolwear retailers are small, family run businesses which are already struggling against a backdrop of high operating costs and taxes, 48% of retailers say that they may have to make staff redundant, or have already done so, and 18% think they may have to close altogether.
Over the coming months, we will continue to engage constructively with the Government and the Department for Education, to ensure that the sector’s expertise and on-the-ground evidence is reflected in the policymaking process. We will continue to make the case for school uniforms policies which are workable for parents, schools and pupils alike.
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Matthew Easter, Chair of the Schoolwear Association, said:
“We fully recognise and support the importance of keeping school uniform costs as low as possible for families. This is why we continually work hard with schools to keep costs down, and why many specialist schoolwear retailers support lower income families through special discounts, extra kit and flexible payment plans.
Unfortunately, the Government’s school uniform cap is likely to have the total opposite effect to the one they intend. Parents will either be pushed into buying cheap, lower-quality items from supermarkets, which won’t last as long and can’t be handed down or offered through second hand stores, or they will be pressured by their children into buying the latest expensive fashion brands that are significantly more expensive than the uniform items they replace. In both instances, the long term cost of clothing children for school will increase rather than decrease.
The cap will also prevent school specific uniform from supporting academic performance and behaviour by dividing children into ‘haves’ and have ‘nots,' and diminishing its vital role as a social leveller. Initial evidence also suggests that it will inadvertently restrict sports participation if schools are not allowed to require school specific sports kit.”
ENDS