Any moves to try to reduce the financial burden on parents in less well-off households must be welcomed, so news that a Bradford councillor has written to headteachers in a bid to reduce uniform cost should be received positively.

It is important that our schools do have a certain standard and code for dress among pupils, which is why the school uniform exists. But it is equally important that no children are stigmatised because their parents can’t afford the correct uniform.

The Save The Children Our Shout group, which is made up of young people, has been campaigning on this issue for some time and fought to stop any moves to lower the school clothing allowance, discussed by councillors earlier this year. And they have joined up with Councillor Malcolm Sykes to ask schools to consider whether their uniforms are affordable, whether they act as a barrier to entry for some families, and whether it has items that can only be purchased from a single supplier.

It is possible to buy school clothing very cheaply in some shops now, but that is sometimes undermined by specific styles of ties, blazers or jumpers that are only available from one place and may be priced accordingly. It must be time to look at some of these practices.

One Save The Children project officer says parents are going into debt to make sure their children have the correct clothes. That is a disturbing fact, particularly coming as it does just a day after it was revealed that several headteachers had concerns about pupils going hungry at Bradford schools.

There are, of course, issues of choice in terms of spending, and it is likely to be the case that some parents make the wrong ones in allocating their disposable income. But there are many others who do everything they can to make sure their children have what they need.

If there are ways of helping them, then they must be looked at. And it may be that the school uniform issue is one such area.

Headteachers need to give careful consideration to the letter from Coun Sykes and see if they can come up with any ways of easing the burden for the increasing number of hard-up families.