FOI Request - School Clothing Grant
Request 101003657329
1. Amount of school clothing grant set by the authority for the school years 2022-2023, 2023-24 detailing any difference between primary and secondary if this occurred.
2. Total amount of money the authority has awarded in school clothing grant in each of the school years 2022-2023, 2023-24.
3. Total number of families awarded school clothing grants in each of the school years 2022-2023, 2023-24.
4. Total number of children that have been awarded grants for school clothing in each of the school years 2022-2023, 2023-24.
5. Breakdown of the number of awards for those attending primary or secondary, and (if applicable) nursery or special school for each of the school years with 2022-2023, 2023-24.
6. Total amount of money the authority has received from the Scottish Government for school clothing grant for each of the school years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
7. Are 16–18-year-olds who are in receipt of Education Maintenance Allowance eligible for school clothing grant?
8. Does the authority automatically pay the school clothing grant and if so, what criteria are used? For example, entitlement to housing benefit?
9. Does the authority roll over families’ entitlement to school clothing grant from one school year to the next? If so, how many families benefitted from this in the 2023-2024 school year?
10. Does the authority identify families that may be entitled to school clothing grant, but aren’t receiving it and contact them to advise them to apply it? If so, what type of information is used to identify these families?
11. Is information recorded according to the 6 priority family types* identified as being at higher risk of child poverty?
12. Has any additional help been given to families for school clothing in 2023-24? For example, an extra one-off payment. If so what type, how much was it for and how many payments were made?
13. How many requests for school clothing grant were turned down and the reasons the requests were turned down, with number in each category for the school years 2022-2023, 2023-24?
14. How many exceptional requests were made for help with school clothing, over and above the amount set by the authority in each of the school years 2022-2023, 2023-24?
15. Any other information on school clothing grant awards not listed above that relates to the number of children, families, application process, awards made.
* Lone parent families, minority ethnic families, families with a disabled adult or child, families with a younger mother (under 25), families with a child under 1, and larger families (3+ children).
Response 13-11-2024
1. Clothing grant year runs from April to March
2022/23 - £120 for Primary School pupils and £150 for Secondary School pupils
2023/24 - £120 for Primary School pupils and £150 for Secondary School pupils
2. 2022/23 - £198840
2023/24 - £206550
3. 2022/23 – 908
2023-24 – 946
4. 2022/23 – 1519
2023/24 – 1578
5. 2022/23 – 967 primary & 552 secondary
2023/24 – 1005 primary & 573 secondary
6. Please note, the council receives funding by financial year not academic. The Scottish Government funding is below:
2018/19 £249,000
2019/20 £227,000
2020/21 £285,000
2021/22 £360,000
2022/23 £457,000
2023/24 £527,000
2024/25 £458,000
7. No
8. The qualifying criteria can be found here: http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_55486.html
Clothing Grants can be paid automatically using Free School Meal (FSM), Council Tax Reduction (CTR) & Housing Benefit (HB) data.
9. One clothing grant is paid per qualifying pupil per year – (April to March)
10. HB and CTR data used to find potential new entitlement.
11. No
12. No
13. This information is not held but there would be no entitlement if the qualifying criteria was not shown to be met. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
14. 0
15. Not applicable