THE decision to scrap a grant scheme helping thousands of poorer families buy school uniforms has been overturned.

The Welsh Government had decided to close its School Uniform Grant scheme worth £700,000, which provides financial support to pupils and families to help tackle the effects of poverty on school attainment under the wider Pupil Development Grant scheme (PDG).

But the decision has been overturned as the Welsh Government will now increase the range of pupils eligible for the grant and the amount of money available through an extended  ‘PDG – Access’ scheme.

The extension will see a further £1.7 million available to pupils and families across Wales through the PDG, which will now enable children in reception class to receive school uniform funding.

The scheme, which was previously only available to year seven pupils eligible for free school meals or pupils in care, will also allow families to receive a total of £125, up from £105 last year.

Responding to the Welsh Government’s announcement, Llyr Gruffydd, AM for North Wales, said: “I am pleased to see the Welsh Government u-turn on its awful decision to scrap the school uniform grant, which had originally caused worry for families and left local authorities to scrape budgets together to cover the shortfall.

“This is better late than never but how did this government get this so badly wrong in the first place?”

Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published in March this year found that 30 per cent of children in Wales are in poverty, a figure that continues to rise.

The school uniform grant will continue to be administrated by councils, with parents applying to their local authority for the money.

Kirsty Williams, Welsh Government cabinet secretary for education, said: “Reducing the attainment gap between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers is at the heart of our national mission to raise standards.

“This new fund will be more flexible and relevant to the needs of disadvantaged learners than the previous school uniform grant [and] will support more learners.

“For the first time, learners in both reception and year seven, who are eligible for free school meals, or are children who are looked after, will fall within scope of the funding.

“PDG – Access will allow us to go that step further in supporting our disadvantaged learners to reach their full potential and narrowing the attainment gap between those learners and their peers.”