We all want an education system where all young people can thrive and make the most of their time at school. We hope that they attain good exam grades, explore their passions and interests through trips and clubs, and that they develop lifelong friendships through key milestones such as going to their school prom or leavers event. CPAG’s research out this week has shown that for secondary school pupils from lower-income families, this isn’t always the case
Parents pay at least £1,000 a year to send a child to state primary school in the UK and nearly £2,300 to secondary school – a jump in costs of 16% and 30% respectively since 2022, far outstripping both inflation (8%) and earnings growth (12%) during the same period, new research from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) finds.
The minimum cost of education parents in the UK must meet is now over £1,000 a year for a child at primary school and nearly £2,300 a year for a child at secondary school.
Our Cost of the School Day Young People Summit 2025 will take place in The Social Hub in Glasgow on the 30th of September. Schools can apply for places for two young people and a member of staff.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth, visited Boghall Primary School in West Lothian to meet members of the Cost of the School Day Voice network who presented their thoughts, and the views of more than five thousand other young people in Scotland about poverty and school costs.
This briefing provides information on policies announced in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, alongside policy areas where opportunities to support children’s wellbeing were missed in this legislation.
This final report outlines the issues relating to managed migration as the DWP has begun sending migration notices to claimants with much lower incomes and who are likely to be more vulnerable. It highlights how the support offered can be improved to ensure that those facing the greatest barriers are able to make and sustain a UC claim. Lastly, is looks at the experiences of people who have completed the move to UC to highlight how UC can work better for everyone claiming.
In 2023, the Mayor of London committed to providing free school meals to every primary aged child in state-funded schools in London. This is an evaluation of the roll-out of the policy, commissioned by Impact on Urban Health.
This short report looks at the challenges facing schools when implementing a means-tested school meal system, and the debt families are incurring for school meals in primary schools across England.
To mark ‘Adequate Incomes’ day of Challenge Poverty Week 2024, we are sharing two new resources designed to help with approaches to talking about costs and maximising incomes in schools and early years settings.
This week, Cost of the School Day Voice network members from Trinity High School in Rutherglen took part in the launch of Standing Up To Poverty, Anti-Poverty Advice for the Classroom from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), Scotland's largest teaching union.
This briefing looks at free school meals (FSMs) in Yorkshire and the Humber, including new statistics on the number of children in poverty in each local authority missing out on this entitlement.
