London council aims to become first in England to offer universal school uniform payment

Tower Hamlets’ school uniform payment would benefit 21,000 children over the next three years and cost £3m over that period. Photograph: David Jones/PA

A London council is likely to become the first in England to offer a “universal” payment towards school uniform costs to households on an income of less than £50,350.

MPs were this week debating government plans to ban schools in England from requiring parents to buy more than three branded uniform items, plus a tie – but Tower Hamlets council said that “simply isn’t enough to alleviate the burden” on struggling families, and that it intended to offer payments of up to £150 for each child.