The budget for support for buying school uniform in Pembrokeshire has been cut – but the amount availble to parents has been increased.

Changes have been made to the criteria for those eligible for uniform support but no-one will be turned away, councillors have been told.

Pembrokeshire County Council was one of four local authorities providing discretionary assistance grants for people on certain benefits in order to buy school uniforms when needed, cabinet was told on Monday (January 14).

The scheme has been reviewed recently following the introduction of a new ‘pan Wales’ Pupil Development Grant and the roll-out of Universal Credit which means income support, job seekers allowance and other identified benefits no longer exist.

Cabinet heard on Monday that the new scheme would mean families received more money when eligible, which could also be used for educational equipment as well as uniform, with priority to those receiving free-school meals.

There would also be an exceptional circumstance criteria to the Pembrokeshire scheme, to be called Pupil Development Grant Plus, James White said, such as having to move schools or loss of clothing due to circumstances beyond the applicant’s control, or disruption to Universal Credit payments.

Mr. White, head of performance and community, said it was an improvement with the amount available increase to £125 compared to the current £30 to £40.

But this was questioned by cabinet member for social services Clr. Tessa Hodgson, who asked why the budget had been reduced from £27,000 to £15,000.

“It’s quite a reduction in what we currently allocate,” she added, asking for assurance that if the budget is spent part way through a year people would still be assisted.

Mr. White said: “The current budget is £27,000 and it’s pretty much spent every year, certainly last year it was.”

But he added that the criteria was so different he could not be certain that the £15,000 budget would be enough but “we wouldnd’t turn anyone away and there’s an element of seeing how it goes.”

Clr. Hodgson remained concerned that the numbers helped will be reduced due to the increase in allocation and Mr. White said that just being on Universal Credit would not be enough to be eligible, expectational circumstances or need was required.

The new scheme was approved by cabinet unanimously.