Our referral form for new school uniform packs for individual children & young people is currently closed to allow us to take stock and prepare for the colder season. Please have a look at our signposting page for other sources of support.
You are welcome to contact us to explore how we could work in partnership with your school or community group to make uniform available to your local families on-site. Please email us at info@edinburghuniform.org
We offer new school uniform and other essentials to children and young people who meet the following criteria:
- They attend a City of Edinburgh school.
- The request is being made by a professional referrer such as a pupil support officer, a family support worker, a social worker, a health visitor or similar. We do not accept requests directly from families or young people.
- The child or young person is in genuine need of new school uniform. We define this as:
- They are unable to attend school or fully participate in the curriculum without new clothing, or
- They are vulnerable to bullying because of issues related to their clothing, or
- Their self-esteem, well-being or attendance is compromised because of issues related to school clothing, or
- Hygiene issues are likely to be improved by the provision of more school clothing, or
- They do not have access to clothing of an appropriate size or deemed suitable for their school.
- The referring professional has made appropriate efforts to obtain statutory and other support for the family. Many families are not aware of grants and other support that they are entitled to, or they need help to access them. We are a very small charity with limited resources. A request for a bag of new uniform should be the last port of call after all other options have been explored. For more information on support that may be available, please see our signposting page. As part of the referral process you will be asked to state what additional support you or your organisation has offered to the family or young person beyond a referral to ESUB.
- The referring professional knows the child or young person and/or their main carer, so that they can ask us for the most needed items in the correct sizes. We offer a wide range of items, styles and sizes – please check carefully before completing a referral form that what you are requesting is appropriate and the correct size. Please read our FAQs about school uniform here.
When completing our referral form you will be asked to confirm that the request complies with all of the above. If there is anything you would like to discuss before making a referral, please contact us.
Please note that we will only provide one bag 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 before submitting a second request if you consider that there are exceptional circumstances.
Children/young people who received a bag of uniform from us anytime in 2022 may request one in 2023, if they meet the criteria above.
Once you have sought other support for the family and carefully determined what items are needed and their sizes, you may request up to 6 items of new uniform and accessories as follows:
- Register as a referring partner HERE.
Please keep a note of your password. Please note that our staff check and approve registrations individually, so please bear with us if your registration is not approved straight away. You will receive a notification once your registration is approved. Please check your junk mail folder if you haven’t received this within a few days of your application. - Once we have approved your registration, log in HERE.
- Complete a referral form HERE.
You will then receive an automated confirmation of receipt of your referral by email. 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. Please keep a note of which children/young people you have referred, and the date. You may submit a maximum of 10 requests per week. - We will contact you when the bag of clothing is ready.
This will typically be around 3 weeks after submitting the referral if the referral is made outside of the summer months, but it may take longer in summer.
The service is open year-round except for the Christmas period. We would appreciate your assistance in assessing the need for uniform throughout the year rather than waiting for the back-to-school peak period if at all possible.
We will endeavour to provide uniform before the start of the new school year for children/young people in transition years of P1 and S1 or who are changing schools, if the referrals are received by the middle of May at the latest. Due to the exceptionally high numbers of referrals that we receive in the summer we are unable to guarantee that referrals made in May onwards will be processed before the start of the new school year. - You collect the bag of clothing from our premises.
We are currently based in Granton. Details of collection times will be provided by email. If you are unable to collect the bag, we may be able to arrange for one of our volunteers to deliver it to your workplace but we cannot guarantee availability of this delivery service. Please note that families cannot collect bags from us or have them delivered directly. - You pass the bag of uniform to the family in the way that is most appropriate and dignified for them.