How to review your school uniform policy

What this policy needs to do

It should reflect:

• The Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms – get up to speed with our summary
• The Equality Act 2010
• The Human Rights Act 1998

It's not your job to cross-reference your policy with this guidance, but you should expect your school leaders to have done so.

You'll want to make sure the policy sets out:

• How your school will:
• Make sure school uniform is affordable and provides the best value for money for parents and carers
• Avoid discrimination 
• Your school’s expectations for school uniform

Note on the Equality Act 2010 

The Equality Act 2010 doesn't go into specifics about what you can and can't do around uniform, and hasn't yet been fully tested in the courts. 

This means that there's no definitive answer right now on what you can/can’t include in your uniform policy, but there could be in the future if a discrimination claim tests the law. 

We’ve included a key question in our section below, which you can ask to check that your school leaders have taken this into account, and we refer to the Equality Act 2010 in our model policy (which you can download from the section 'Take a look at our model policy' below).

To help your school leaders spot potential areas of concern in your policy, we've relied on case studies from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on direct and indirect discrimination, as part of our school uniform audit on The Key Leaders.

Key questions to challenge this policy

 

Other questions you can ask

• What steps have we taken to limit the variation in uniform requirements between year/class/house groups?
• If you’ve made any significant changes to your policy: what will be the financial impact of these changes on parents?
• How are we communicating any changes we've made to parents and carers?
• Were there any aspects of our existing policy that were cause for concern? How have we addressed these in the updated policy?

See more questions you can ask when reviewing any policy.

Take a look at our model policy 

This model document is not meant as a guide for writing or updating your school's policy, since that's your school leaders' job. Instead, use it to give you a sense of what a good policy looks like.

Model policy: uniform

Approved by Forbes Solicitors, our model document is designed for your school to adapt to suit its context. It will save your school leaders time and help to keep your school compliant.

Signpost your school leaders to more support

If your school is also a member of our sister service, The Key Leaders, let your school leaders know about the resources available to support their school uniform policy review.

Our articles include a model policy, uniform cost calculation sheet, policy audit tool, and template letter to parents.

• How to review your school uniform policy
• School uniform policy: model and examples

Sources

• Statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform from the DfE
• Non-statutory uniform guidance from the DfE 
• Advice from the Schoolwear Association
• Case studies on discrimination from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

Our associate education expert Julia Skinner. Julia is a former headteacher and a former national leader of governance. She has a wealth of experience as a chair of governors in a MAT, a federation of special schools and numerous maintained schools.