Supporting families with cost of school

Budget sets out £4.85 billion investment in Education and Skills

A range of measures to help children, parents and carers with costs around school have been set out in the Scottish Government’s budget. These include expansion of free school meals in primary schools, holiday food provision and investment to ensure the school clothing grant national minimum of £120 for primary pupils and £150 for secondary pupils.

The spending plans for 2023-24 allocates £4.85 billion of funding across the education and skills portfolio, including measures to address the cost of living crisis.

New investment will see free school meals expanded to primary six and seven pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment – the next step in Scottish Government plans to deliver universal free school meals in primary schools.

It also includes £22 million of continued support to provide meals during the school holidays to children who need them most, along with £200 million for the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

In addition, the budget allocates £50 million of funding to continue to support the Whole Family Wellbeing programme of activity, a key pillar of The Promise, to support families to thrive.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “I am committed to improving the life chances of all Scotland’s children, young people and learners. The measures set out in these spending plans are driven by our ambition to enable everybody to reach their full potential.

“We know the toll that the cost of living crisis has taken on families and households across Scotland and investment is being made in a range of important measures which will help mitigate the impact of this.

“The expansion of free school meals in primary schools continues, providing a benefit in kind of around £400 per child for families, while the ongoing investment in the school clothing grant and access to digital devices will help those who need it most.

“Our ongoing commitment to free university tuition means that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, Scottish domiciled students do not incur additional debt of up to £27,750, and average student loan debt in Scotland remains the lowest in the UK.

“In Scotland we also have the most teachers-per-pupil, along with the highest per-pupil education spend anywhere in the UK. We will continue to provide local authorities with funding of £145.5 million per year to support the teaching workforce, as part of the overall local government settlement of £13.2 billion.

“Our commitment to closing the poverty related-attainment gap remains paramount and that is why we will invest a further £200 million next year in the Scottish Attainment Challenge – as part of our £1 billion commitment in this Parliament.”

The measures set out in the budget to help reduce the cost of school include:

  • Providing more than £13 million to uprate the School Clothing Grant in line with inflation.
  • Investing an additional £16 million resource and £80 million capital to fund the expansion of Free School Meals for all Primary 6 and 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, as the next step in fulfilling the commitment to universal provision in primary schools
  • Continuing to invest £22 million to provide meals during school holidays to the children who need them most.
  • Maintaining subsidy arrangements for the provision of milk and working with partners on a phased approach to the delivery of a universal milk scheme, aligned to the expansion of free school meals.
  • Investing £20 million towards the commitment to ensure every school-aged child, over the lifetime of the parliament, has access to a digital device to support their learning
  • Investment of nearly £2 billion towards Scotland’s universities and colleges to support delivery of high-quality education and training. This includes a cash increase of £20 million in the Higher Education resource budget compared to 2022-23, and a cash increase of £33.7 million in the Further Education resource and capital budget.

The Scottish budget for 2023-24 was published on Thursday 15 December.

£698,000 set to support 6,821 families in Edinburgh to buy school clothes

The Scottish Government has set to support 6,821 school children in Edinburgh with £698,000 of support to buy school clothes through the School Clothing Grant.

The School Clothing Grant was increased this month by the Scottish Government and provides families with primary school children with £120 per child and £150 per child in secondary school.

The support helps families pay for school clothes and shoes.

Applications are still open for eligible parents to apply for the start of the new school year. To apply, parents should visit www.edinburgh.gov.uk/food-clothing/free-school-meals-school-clothing-grants.

SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald  said: “The SNP Scottish Government has already helped a significant number of families in Edinburgh with buying school clothes and shoes, and applications are still open for eligible families to apply for the start of the new school year.

“Meeting the costs of buying school clothes can be very challenging for thousands of families across Scotland and the SNP Scottish Government has introduced the School Clothing Grant to ensure every child in Scotland doesn’t miss out.

“Being in a uniform not only breaks stigma in school but gets young people in the right mindset for learning.

“This is another demonstration of our tale of two governments – one in Edinburgh building a social security system built on dignity, fairness and respect, in stark contrast to the one in Westminster preparing to cut Universal Credit which could plunge 20,000 children in Scotland into poverty.”

The number of children and young people estimated will benefit from the minimum school clothing grant, broken down by local authority area, is provided within the following table:

Local AuthorityEstimated number of children and young people (in each LA area)
  
Aberdeen City3,471
Aberdeenshire3,376
Angus2,473
Argyll and Bute1,463
Clackmannanshire1,349
Dumfries and Galloway3,374
Dundee City6,045
East Ayrshire4,167
East Dunbartonshire2,014
East Lothian1,682
East Renfrewshire1,714
Edinburgh, City of6,821
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)416
Falkirk4,678
Fife11,882
Glasgow City28,464
Highland4,333
Inverclyde3,114
Midlothian2,018
Moray1,434
North Ayrshire5,186
North Lanarkshire10,234
Orkney Islands227
Perth and Kinross1,850
Renfrewshire5,498
Scottish Borders2,220
Shetland Islands309
South Ayrshire2,926
South Lanarkshire10,622
Stirling1,692
West Dunbartonshire3,530
West Lothian6,498
  
SCOTLAND145,080

The funding allocation of the £11.8 million in additional funding for the school clothing grant, broken down by local authority area, is provided within the following table:

Local AuthorityAdditional funding for school clothing grants
  
Aberdeen City£351,000
Aberdeenshire£371,000
Angus£239,000
Argyll and Bute£155,000
Clackmannanshire£136,000
Dumfries and Galloway£354,000
Dundee City£357,000
East Ayrshire£334,000
East Dunbartonshire£146,000
East Lothian£218,000
East Renfrewshire£147,000
Edinburgh, City of£698,000
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)£43,000
Falkirk£363,000
Fife£935,000
Glasgow City£1,940,000
Highland£469,000
Inverclyde£161,000
Midlothian£191,000
Moray£187,000
North Ayrshire£379,000
North Lanarkshire£929,000
Orkney Islands£40,000
Perth and Kinross£274,000
Renfrewshire£363,000
Scottish Borders£245,000
Shetland Islands£29,000
South Ayrshire£237,000
South Lanarkshire£678,000
Stirling£161,000
West Dunbartonshire£234,000
West Lothian£436,000
  
SCOTLAND£11,800,000

New national school clothing grant

An estimated 120,000 families will benefit from a new £100 national minimum school clothing grant in Scotland as a result of partnership working between Scotland’s Local Authorities and the Scottish Government. It means for the first time all eligible families, regardless of their local authority area, will have access to the same minimum level of financial support for school clothing. Continue reading New national school clothing grant