Funding will help disadvantaged families buy school uniforms and shoes
Shropshire Council is to provide schools with funding that can be used to support disadvantaged families with buying school uniforms and shoes, as schools reopen and pupils return to classroom-based teaching and learning.
Funding of at least £40 per eligible pupil will be allocated to all Shropshire schools at the start of April [2021].
It follows the Government’s announcement that it will extend the COVID Winter Grant Scheme until 16 April 2021, and provide councils with extra, targeted financial support for those in need.
Ed Potter, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services, said:
“As we’ve already agreed to provide additional financial support towards the cost of food for disadvantaged families outside of school term time – and have committed to cover these costs during May 2021 half-term – I’m really pleased that we can use the majority of this additional funding to support the county’s disadvantaged families with the purchase of school uniforms and shoes.”
Schools will be advised of their allocations in the next couple of weeks so that they can begin planning how to apply the funding.
As schools are well-placed to determine the most effective means of getting this support to their most vulnerable families, they will have freedom to determine how they apply the funding.
Options could include centrally procuring and distributing uniforms and shoes for disadvantaged pupils, or purchasing vouchers for individual families to use in the stores/supermarkets that supply these items where this is possible.
The funding has to be used by the summer half-term at the very latest, but preferably by the end of April 2021.
Further information
The funding is ring-fenced for supporting only the most disadvantaged pupils with school uniforms/shoes as they return for the summer term.
This unit value of £40 per eligible pupil could be increased, depending on other commitments, with the intention of allocating all of the grant funding.
