A “life-changing” charity that provides free school uniforms to families in need is already seeing a noticeable increase in demand owing to the mounting cost of living crisis.
Wirral FUSS was set up ten years ago after drawing inspiration from similar schemes across the Merseyside region. Using public donations, the charity recycles quality, pre-loved uniforms and distributes them across their seven Wirral-based hubs.
Project Co-ordinator for Wirral FUSS Petra Davies told the ECHO: “Each of the hubs works in a different way and covers a range of schools depending on their geographical location. Demand does differ. It is quite a seasonal thing but, from June until the end of August, it could be 100 families a week that we’re helping. It’s simply massive.”
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And the scale of the task at hand for the charity is constantly evolving with the current economic climate already taking its toll on families across the region.
Petra said: “We’ve noticed the impact of the cost of living crisis already. In quarter one, from January through to March, our Hoylake hub did nearly 50% more as opposed to last year. Birkenhead had 292 requests compared with 75 requests the previous year. Obviously in 2021, schools were closed for an 8-week period, but the hubs were still operating and it’s difficult to compare figures with the pandemic but the figures are simply amazing.”
Since Wirral FUSS was founded nearly a decade ago, they have distributed a staggering 50,281 items, with each item going to a family with their own story to tell. Rachel Hoolahan, 45, from Birkenhead, has two children, and has dealt with the charity both as a donor and as a customer.
She told the ECHO: “I generally tend to donate. I have used the service in the past and the service is just fantastic. The lady has just given me these jackets for my son for nothing. It’s great, and it really impacts on families that are struggling at the moment.
"I’m a governor at my son’s school and I’m always directing people to here because they desperately need somewhere to pick up clothes. Kids just grow so fast and it’s difficult for everyone at the minute.”
For some families, rising expenses mean that there is often a difficult decision to make between buying new uniforms and putting food on the table.
Petra said: “We had a lady who couldn’t afford to buy her daughter a new pattered skirt. We had one skirt left in stock and the lady took it off the shelf, checked the size and burst into tears. She said: 'every time we get a bit of money, something always comes up but this means I can put food on the table tonight.' It’s things like that that make you realise that what you’re doing is life changing.”
In addition to the human impact that Wirral FUSS has had across the region, there is also an enormous environmental benefit to the work that the charity does.
Petra said: “The other part of our story as well is the amount of clothing that we’re saving from landfill. The pandemic actually helped in terms of donations as a lot of people had bought clothes that they hadn’t been able to use. That hit at 7.3 tonnes.
“Because of the volume of donations we are able to have a high level of quality control. Any donations that don’t meet the standard are further recycled to a company in Manchester which processes the fabric into new rolls of fabric that can be sold on or sent abroad so it’s still not put into landfill. For every one tonne of clothing that is recycled, 7 tonnes of carbon emissions are saved which is absolutely massive.”
From September, schools in England must follow legally-binding guidance from the department of education, to ensure that uniform costs are reasonable. In time for the next school year, schools will be required to take steps to remove unnecessary branded items and allow more high-street options, like supermarket own-brand uniform.
This move comes after, The Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill, introduced by Labour MP Mike Amesbury, was granted Royal Assent in 2021.
Even with the new guidance, the growing cost of living will continue to pose a number of challenges to families in Wirral and beyond, and FUSS volunteer Helen Robinson believes that there is a need to break the stigma around second-hand uniforms.
She said: "The work they do here is very good. I just think people have this stigma around second hand clothes but the quality we’re putting out is brilliant. Not enough people know about it. They’ll go in the uniform shop down the road and buy everything new, when they can get stuff in here.
“I have two kids and I used to come in here to get things for them in junior school. It’s expensive. I’ve just bought a new blazer for my son, just for six weeks, and its cost me nearly £40."
You can find more about Wirral Fuss here.
