The annual National Parent Survey shows that 27% of parents and carers are struggling to afford school – rising to half of parents with children entitled to free school meals (FSMs).
It equates to as many as 2.8 million children living in UK families who struggle to afford school.
The survey has been published by charity Parentkind and was carried out in June 2023 involving 5,126 parents and carers.
Only 60% of those parents believe that the costs of school are acceptable. Of those who had concerns over the affordability of schooling, 10 areas of cost were identified:
- Uniforms (50%).
- School trips (44%).
- School meals/drinks (30%).
- Technology, including computers, tablets, internet access (19%).
- Transport to and from school (19%).
- Costs of materials for specific classes, such as art, music and PE (19%).
- Before and after-school clubs (18%).
- Extra-curricular events, such as sports days and concerts (16%).
- Cost of general stationery and materials (13%).
- Costs of voluntary donations to the school fund (8%).
The findings come after research from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) earlier this term calculated that the annual price tag for going to a state school is £18,346 across all 14 years of school – breaking down to £1,756 a year per secondary child and £865 a year at primary level. The hidden costs of schooling included school uniform, sports kits, school bags, learning materials, school trips, packed lunches, transport and more.
Another study, published in the summer by the Children’s Society, found that thanks to an insistence on using branded items of clothing, average school uniform cost has hit £422 a year for secondary students and £287 for primary pupils – this despite recent legislation designed to bring down the cost of uniform for families.
Respondents to the Parentkind research who were most likely to be struggling with the costs of school were those with a child eligible for FSMs, those with a low income, disabled parents, and those with a child with SEN.
The report states: “In terms of practical steps schools can take to help reduce pressure on costs, school uniforms remain the top issue raised by parents and should be an area of focus.
“School meals were listed by almost a third of parents and is an area where policy-makers may want to consider additional support – whether expanding FSMs to a wider range of families or providing related support such as breakfast clubs.”
The findings come amid an on-going campaign for the government to expand free school meal eligibility to all families on Universal Credit.
In March, research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that despite 30% of families on Universal Credit being considered “food insecure”, 69% of families on Universal Credit are not eligible for FSMs – this equates to 1.7 million children. This is because to be eligible, families must have an after-tax income of less than £7,400 a year.
The Parentkind findings also show that parents are particularly worried about their children’s mental health and wellbeing, with the biggest concerns being addiction to electronic devices as well as increasing levels of anxiety and the impact of social media. The top concerns were:
- Amount of time children spend on electronic devices (44%).
- Anxiety (44%).
- Exam stress (42%).
- Impact of social media (37%).
- Bullying (33%).
- Homework-related stress (31%).
- Depression (21%).
- Cyber-bullying or online abuse (20%).
- Self-harm (11%).
- Sexual harassment (10%).
- Eating disorders (8%).
The report adds: “In addition to their impact on children’s health and happiness, mental health issues are also correlated with a number of additional problems for children’s education, such as increased disruption to learning and a greater likelihood of absenteeism.”
Parentkind chief executive Jason Elsom said: “This survey is wake up call to schools and politicians around the country. The cost of living crisis is hitting more and more families, who used to have comfortable incomes but are now concerned about the cost of sending their children to school. Millions of children now face the grim reality of parents not able to buy new school uniform or the cost of school trips, covering the cost of school lunches is also a major worry for parents, especially those on the lowest incomes.”
In his foreword to the report, he adds: “This survey is full of data that should make us all sit up and think again about the barriers preventing children from succeeding in education and how we support parents.
“Anxiety and depression should not be commonplace in the lives of our children. Whether it is the pressure to succeed at school or online abuse, too many children are suffering and, in some cases, hurting themselves.
“Any plans put forward by those looking to run our education system need to address the mental health crisis impacting homes and schools, with solutions appropriate to the scale of the challenge.”
Commenting on the findings, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers, added: “These findings reflect the whole host of issues many parents and children are facing in their lives, with the pandemic and cost of living crisis following a decade in which government funding cuts saw councils forced to scale back non-statutory early intervention services for families.
“Schools see many of the effects of these challenges, which can inevitably impact learning, but it is not their core role to tackle them. They have also suffered years of real-term reductions in funding and even government initiatives like school mental health support teams still only offer support in certain areas of the country. Staff often find it difficult to access help for pupils from under-funded community services like social care and CAMHS due to barriers like high thresholds for support and long waiting lists.
“Sustained government investment in public services, as well as better financial support for families struggling to make ends meet, would go a long way to getting to the root cause of many of the concerns highlighted by this survey.”
- For the full results of the 2023 National Parent Survey, visit www.nationalparentsurvey.com