FAMILIES IN Fife will be helped with the cost of school uniforms.

This comes following a decision at Fife Council’s Cabinet Committee on Thursday, October 10.

The change will protect those families who are being moved from Tax Credits to Universal Credit.

Where these families would previously have qualified for the School Clothing Grant, a move to Universal Credit means that around 300 children are likely to now be disqualified from receiving the grant.  

Councillor David Ross, leader of Fife Council, said: “We don’t think that some of our most vulnerable families should be disadvantaged because of an administrative change in the benefits system. 

“Now that this issue has been identified, I’m pleased that this is an anomaly the Council can do something about.”

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The School Clothing Grant is awarded to those on income support, job seeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance, among other benefits.

To address the inequality between the Tax Credit system and Universal Credit, councillors agreed to fund a raise in the qualifying threshold, to a monthly income of less than £1666 for those on Universal Credit.

This will protect those customers who are being migrated from Tax Credits to Universal Credit.

Those who moved onto Universal Credit since 2017 may qualify again for the clothing. This will reverse the reductions seen in the in the amount of clothing grant awards.

Councillor Ross added: “We have been working really hard to protect Fifers from the worst effects of the cost of living crisis for the last three years.

"We don’t believe that anyone should be worse off when moving from one benefit to another and this is just one way we are helping.

"I’d urge anyone who has been affected by this change, to use our Fife Benefit Calculator to see if you are missing out on any other benefits. We want to make sure that everyone is getting what they are entitled to and a quick benefit check will do this.

“You can check online or call the Community Support Line where one of our trained staff can help you through the process.”