We provide Clothing Crisis Packs on a referral-only basis for those who lack appropriate clothing to make the most of their education. Each Pack contains up to 8 items of new uniform or other essentials, and we add in extras like stationery when we can.
Referrals should only be made for pupils who have no other way of accessing school clothing or money to buy clothing. This service is limited to children and young people who:
- are enrolled at a City of Edinburgh School, and
- have a demonstrable need for school clothing to avoid adverse consequences around attendance, participation or wellbeing, and
- cannot obtain suitable clothing via their own in-school ‘uniform bank’ or other local clothing initiatives, and
- face significant disadvantage compared to their peers in accessing financial and practical support to obtain school clothing.
In most instances, the most effective way to meet the needs of children and young people is to maximise the income of their household instead of requesting a Clothing Crisis Pack. Our signposting page lists numerous sources of financial support as well as free-to-access clothing. For footwear in particular, it is preferable to apply for a grant to allow a child or young person to try on shoes to ensure a good fit and growth room, essential for foot health.
Requests for Clothing Crisis Packs must be made by a professional who knows the family. We do not accept requests directly from families or young people – instead, they may wish to approach the Pupil Support Officer in their school for help with school clothing. PSOs may then decide it is appropriate to make a referral to us if there are no resources available within the school.
When completing our referral form you will be asked:
- How well do you know this child/young person and/or their main parent/carer?
- Why do they face significant disadvantage compared to their peers?
- Please explain why this child/young person needs new school uniform at this time.
- Please explain what impact a set of new uniform from ESUB would have, and what the consequences would be if this child/young person does not qualify for a Clothing Crisis Pack.
- What other resources or support have you tried to help the family to access?
You will also be asked to tell us if the family are eligible for the Council’s school clothing grant and, if they are in receipt of the grant, why a referral to ESUB is required. To ensure a full picture of the current situation we will ask you to tell us about the family’s current circumstances. We know that this is a lot to ask of referrers, but the information ensures that our limited resources are allocated to those in the greatest need.
Please note that we will only provide one pack of new uniform per calendar year (Jan to Dec) for each child/young person, unless there are exceptional circumstances or they are changing school. Please contact us to discuss this before submitting a second request if you think there are exceptional circumstances.
To request a Clothing Crisis Pack, please follow the steps below:
- Register as a referring partner HERE. We will contact you within a few days to discuss working together and then approve your registration as appropriate.
- Once we have approved your registration, log in HERE.
- Complete a referral form for each child HERE. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement of your request by email. Please keep a note of which children/young people you have referred, and the date. If we are unable to accept the referral as it does not appear to meet our criteria or appears to be a duplicate referral, we will contact you within around a week.
- We deliver the Pack(s) to you at your workplace. This will typically be around 3 weeks after submitting the referral but it may be sooner and it may take longer in the summer.
- You pass the bag of uniform to the family or young person in the way that is most appropriate and dignified for them.