More support urged to help Merseyside families with school uniforms
It's estimated some parents could be forced to pay up to £200 per child for new kit
There are calls for more to be done to help families who struggle to pay for a new school uniform.
It's though the past 18 months have pushed many families to the brink with over 6 million people having claimed Universal Credit this year.
Campaigners say the extra, potentially hundreds of pounds can be a significant cost for struggling families.
SEND Crisis Liverpool are one of the many charities working to support families in need.
In conjunction with Friends of Springfield Park they set up a number of drop off donation points for people to give second-hand uniforms.
Mandy Smith from Liverpool SEND Crisis said:
"They're so expensive. We've all been through COVID and people have lost their jobs. It's quite a difficult time for everyone and now the children are returning back to school, we decided to hold the pre-loved school uniform event.
"It was absolutely fantastic. We have a great relationship with Friends Of Springfield Park, and they really supported us with this event, it would not have been a success without them.
"We had so many families that I couldn't possibly count.
"Looking at the numbers of families that attended, people are facing a lot of difficulties now, money is tight.
"When we initially put it on social media we immediately received responses from all different families who've worked full time in the past and then have lost their jobs and are struggling to find another."
She thinks more could be done to help recycle pre-worn school uniforms that would usually be thrown away:
"We would like to see more schools doing a Swap Shop. During COVID our children were not at school for quite a lot of the time but in that time, our children and young people have all grown so the uniforms were still quite new but then parents and families had to go out and buy more.
"A lot of the clothes at these events are still in really good condition and very good quality.
"That was the case of a lot of our donations, the clothes had hardly been worn.
"Under those circumstances, there should be somewhere that we can take our uniforms so that they can be passed onto other parents.
"We would like to see the government step in too and subsidise school uniforms. Each school has their own uniform, which means that parents have to go and buy a particular set and they are so expensive."
Mandy said the event was so successful they're planning another one for next year. She's also urging families who may not have received support yet but need it to come forwards:
"Judging by the amount of emails that we've received, a lot of people are still struggling.
"We shouldn't be made to feel bad about buying secondhand. We don't want parents to feel embarrassed about coming forwards to receive these uniforms.
"We've all been there, we've all been in a similar situation. If you see these events advertised, then please do attend them.
"We'll be holding another one towards the summer of next year and we're hoping to get other organisations involved to support us with this."