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MORE than 80 per cent of councils no longer provide a school uniform grant to help low-income families, shocking figures show.
Only 27 out of 149 councils provide the grants set up by the 1980 Education Act to help poor families cover the cost of school, a freedom of information request by Labour MP Lisa Forbes found.
Labour said the figures reveal how dramatically support for parents has been rolled back through council funding cuts under successive Conservative-led governments.
Many councils reported cancelling the scheme in recent years, with several citing government cuts as the reason.
Two thirds of councils who reported a date for cancelling the scheme have done so since 2010.
Ms Forbes said: “The School Uniform Grant was meant to be a life-line for families across the country struggling to meet the rising costs of sending their children to school.
“But this shocking research shows that the Tory cuts have left the vast majority of parents without that financial support.
“In most of England, it has been abolished by stealth.”
