KATE OSBORNE MP: Together we will eradicate child poverty in the North East

Next week, kids across the country will be heading back to school as the new academic year begins.

Whilst they are excited to see their friends in the school playground, parents and carers are faced with the rising cost of school uniforms and other necessities.

Almost a third of children in the North East region live in poverty, with around 118,000 in the North East Combined Authority area alone, the cost of school uniform and supplies stretch family budgets even further, and threaten the education of children living in the North East.

Schools have a duty to provide a level playing ground for all students, from all backgrounds, and it is distressing to be receiving messages from concerned parents in the constituency who are finding it increasingly hard to meet the rising costs of school uniforms.

The stricter uniform policies I have been contacted about recently enforce ‘essential’ branding, inevitably raising the costs and limiting the number, and availability, of stores that uniforms can be bought from. This is outrageous and I have contacted schools about this every year since becoming an MP and will continue to do so.

Uniforms are supposed to act as a social leveller – an equaliser – and should be affordable and accessible for all of their students. Instead, excessive cost and tightening rules around what is required are holding families back and pushing some even deeper into poverty.

Named brands with school logos and preferred providers of clothing are unnecessary and strict rules around this just punish the poorest of pupils, who already face greater financial barriers and add to back-to-school anxiety.

One parent who got in touch recently told me that unless their child is wearing a shirt with the school’s branding on, they are unable to take their jumper off – completely harsh and unacceptable

This poses an obvious concern to the safety and wellbeing of children unable to afford the branded shirts, if they become too warm and are unable to take a layer off.

It is disgusting that it has gotten to this point.

Schools must ensure that they are spaces where children can go to learn without paying extortionate costs to simply attend their lessons.

Many of our local food banks already offer so much support to the most vulnerable across our community – and in recent years they have stepped up to try to bridge the gap in rising uniform costs, with many now offering uniform swaps to help families prepare for new school years without breaking the bank unnecessarily.

This is brilliant of them – but they should not have to do it.

No student, no child, and no family should be left behind when it comes to education, particularly those in the North East.

This summer, over 31% of pupils in London and the South East achieved an A or A* in their subjects compared to just 24.6% in the North.

In the North East, the result of A and A* grades were even lower, at 23.9%.

The North/South divide now lies at 6.5%, a considerable increase from pre-pandemic levels and yet more evidence of the North being starved of investment and our communities being left behind.

Our region suffered fourteen years of neglect, and our children faced the brunt of it. But our new Labour Government will deliver the change the North East deserves to see, and our Mayor of the North East is already demonstrating this.

Kim Mcguinness, our North East Mayor, announced this week that she will establish a Child Poverty Reduction Unit, which will develop and drive a region-wide strategy.

The first priority of the unit will be to develop the Childcare Grant, which would help parents find or return to work and keep more of their earnings and work with the wider childcare system to develop the most effective way of tackling child poverty.

Every child deserves access to every opportunity and together we will eradicate child poverty in the North East.

Our Labour Government has a mountain to climb, but will work harder than ever to ensure that our children’s education is protected and accessible for all students.

I will continue to work hard with our new Government to deliver for the children of this region, the children who were cheated out of months of education during the Covid-19 pandemic, and tossed aside by previous Tory Governments.

If anyone is having issues with the costs of uniforms or anything else please do get in contact with my office to see what I can do to help [email protected]