How Many Hours do Havering and Redbridge Parents Work to Afford the School Uniform?

It's back-to-school time, which means parents across the country are buying new school uniforms for their ever-growing children. We've analysed the affordability of school uniforms by area, taking into account local income levels. The results show that parents in both Havering and Redbridge have to work more than ten hours to afford the school kit.

How Many Hours do Havering and Redbridge Households Work to Buy the School Uniform?

Between the PE kit, trainers, school shoes, and other basic school uniform items, it's not unusual to fork over between £80 and £200 per child. More expensive private school uniforms can easily cost 2X to 3X for specialty items decked out in school colours and embroidered with the school logo.

For the following basket of plain uniform items (e.g., no school logos or colours), ValuePenguin priced the average cost across six major retailers - Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, M&S, John Lewis and Next, plus Start Rite, Clarks and Geox for shoes - and estimates that the average junior school uniform costs around £150 per child.

According to data from the ONS, average Havering and Redbridge households earn £596 and £610 net per week, respectively - that's around £60 a week more than average. These income levels mean that Havering households labour for 10.3 hours and Redbridge households for 10.1 hours on average in order to afford the basket of school uniform items. (Although, clearly, your household may buy a slightly different basket of clothing and shoes depending on individual needs.)

Havering and Redbridge Compared to the UK Average

While uniform prices from the major retailers are consistent across the U.K., incomes vary significantly in different locations. School uniforms are therefore more or less affordable to parents, depending on where you live.

Across the UK, parents have to work for 11.5 hours on average to earn enough money to pay for the basket of back-to-school clothes. Havering parents, therefore, work 1.2 hours less than the average household; Redbridge parents work 1.4 hours less than average, as you can see in the following chart.

Havering and Redbridge Parents Work Over 10 Hours to Afford the School Uniform for One Child, Less than Average

Finally, in the following table you can see how Havering and Redbridge stats (bolded) compare to NUTS2 regions across the UK. You can learn more about the methodology and affordability across NUTS2 regions in the full study.