Jo Land was horrified when she realised how much her youngest son’s school uniform was going to cost. “A jumper was £25. A polo shirt was £15,” she says. “This isn’t a fancy school; this is the comprehensive down the road.”
She started thinking about how others managed: “If it was this expensive for us, how on Earth must families with three or four children cope? And that’s not taking into account the cost of living. Food, fuel and energy prices are going up for everyone.” Land, a 53-year-old teacher turned private tutor from Hereford, is not on the breadline. “My husband is a teacher as well,” she says. “We are professionals. If it’s hard for us, it must be harder for other families.”
