The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers.
Every Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity reliant on trained volunteers and funds to provide these vital services for local communities.
The Citizens Advice campaign Adding up aims to bring benefits to families everywhere by working in partnership with schools and parents. If you are a parent, member of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) or a governor then you are in a perfect position to help. Many schools have adopted simple, common sense policies which help parents save money on a range of products such as uniforms and PE kit as well as specialist equipment and trips. Our campaign aims to spread this good practice so that more people benefit. Here’s how you can help.
Citizens Advice has come up with a range of best practice measures for decision makers to consider when setting and revising policy on uniforms, trips and other areas involving costs to parents. If you’re a member of the PTA or know some one who is then request that it be put on the agenda of the next meeting. Or you could send a copy of Top tips to your child’s school.
Second-hand uniform sales are a great way of reducing the costs of sending children to school. The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA) has produced some handy hints for schools. The guidance takes examples from schools that have introduced successful schemes for 'recycling' uniforms so that other pupils get the benefit. Please let us know if you are aware of a PTA that has introduced effective policies to help parents to meet school costs. Tell us your experience of how schemes are managed and administered so that we can pass on good practice to others via this campaign.
Are you a parent/carer with concerns over the cost of schooling? Perhaps you have tried to get a school uniform grant from your local authority and been told they no longer offer them. Or perhaps you’ve tried contacting your school about the cost of uniform/kit/trips and not felt listened to. The following guidance explains some steps you might like to consider in improving matters for yourself and other parents in the same position.
The School Admissions Code says schools should limit the expense of uniforms by ensuring that articles are widely available and that they should consider the cost of branded items. Items should be affordable and not disadvantage certain social groups.
Excerpt from the School Admissions Code (
98kb) - section of the code which deals with uniform and other cost related policiesYou may already be aware of our campaign as a result of filling in an Adding up campaign postcard. Available from Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB), the cards invite parents to fill in a short survey relating to policy of their child’s school before handing them in to the school. The idea is to raise awareness among parents and schools so that issues are addressed.
Adding up campaign postcard ( 59kb)Adding up is a Citizens Advice briefing based on an online survey of 1000 parents plus evidence collected by CAB around the country. It reveals why action is needed and recommends how schools can help parents struggling to meet the costs of education.
Adding up evidence briefing ( 0.55mb)What is happening at your school? Tell us about your experiences and those of your children. Has your school got it right on education costs with a range of innovative and well-thought out ways of helping parents with the costs or uniforms, kit and trips? Or has it got some way to go? Citizens Advice is continuing to gather information on the experiences of parents and how schools are preparing for the start of the Schools Admissions Code in September 2008. You can be a part of those efforts.
