Parents share pain of steep uniform costs as cost of living bites

Families are describing this year's back to school bills as their toughest ever amid the cost of living crisis.

Uniforms alone are often costing hundreds of dollars, putting heavy pressure on household budgets.

Parent Fatu Fomai has six kids in need of uniforms ahead of the new school year.

"Adding stationery on top of that and then also the lunches, it is pretty hard — especially when they grow very fast," he told 1News.

"You've got to have to buy nearly a new uniform every year."

Fellow parent Jess Te Huia is selling an old uniform she no longer needs second-hand, and vividly remembers a time when the cost of the clothing for her teens overwhelmed her.

"They were excluded from class. They'd be given detentions. I'd get phone calls, you know, once a week, to go down and explain why they haven't got their full uniform," she said.

Budget services say it's particularly daunting for solo parents, especially when schools bring in new uniforms for a rebrand.

"That impacts people who have tight budgets," Wellington Budget Service manager David Cameron said.

"They [then] can't get the uniform from a second-hand shop or hand-me-downs — you've got to go and buy a brand new uniform. It's very, very difficult."

KidsCan founder Julie Chapman said this year is expected to be "tougher than ever" for parents providing for their school-aged children.

"Parents are going without the basics themselves to try and give kids uniforms [and] stationery."

She said some students "won't start school on the first day too due to not having those essentials".

Around half of New Zealand schools have uniforms but the Ministry of Education doesn't have current data on uniform costs.

It said Work and Income helps some families with low incomes pay for back to school essentials.

At Te Kōmanawa Rowley School in Christchurch, an anonymous donor is paying for uniforms for those in need.

"We have a lot of Kāinga Ora houses around us, so quite often families are transferred in here," principal Graeme Norman said.

"I've had a number of parents that have sat in my office, and when I've told them the uniform is free, you just see the relief."