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CODE OF BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES - SCHOOL UNIFORM PROVISION

Aim:

For the industry to agree to best practice guidelines, designed to ensure that parents are able to purchase best value school uniform, and that schools are able to operate an all year round uniform policy that reflects their own identity, and that the school, parents, pupils and its suppliers are all equally protected. And that through a clear Code of Practice, school uniform policy is inclusive in its nature.

The best practice document should take into account the following:

1. SELECTING A SUPPLY OPTION
1.1 Schools must be able to show that they have conducted an evaluation process of how best to ensure availability of new school uniforms and that different supply options have been considered. These should include:
1.1.1 Operating a school shop
1.1.2 Mail Order/ e-commerce solutions
1.1.3 Local schoolwear specialist
1.1.4 High street suppliers
1.1.5 A mixture of the above.
1.2 As part of this decision making process, the school should show they have taken into account some/ all of the following:
1.2.1 Location of the school
1.2.2 Catchment area of pupil population
1.2.3 Demographics/ socio-economic profile of parent/ pupil population
1.2.4 School's financial policies
1.2.5 Implications of supply route selected (e.g. price of garments, service to parents, cash tied up in maintaining stock, revenue to be generated).

2. INVITATION TO TENDER
2.1 Schools must be able to show that a tender/ competitive quotation phase has been entered into, and that the evaluation of the suppliers takes into account a number of criteria:
2.1.1 Product: desired quality/durability of the products such that the products can perform in the environment that it was designed to be worn in. e.g., that garments' performance meets the rigours of everyday wear.
2.1.2 Price: That a fair, maximum price is agreed for each uniform item that is specifically designed for each school.
2.1.3 Availability: that the supplier(s) selected commit to all year round supply of the uniform item(s)
2.1.4 Equitable: that the supplier(s) selected will produce all uniform items for the entirety of the school population
2.1.5 Contributions: That any commissions/ contributions made to the school are documented, and that the parent body are made aware of any such agreements.
2.1.6 Corporate Responsibility: You may want to consider whether supplier(s) of uniform item(s) have taken into account the issue of ethical trading and the conditions in which garments are manufactured.

3. CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION
3.1 The school must be able to show that a consultation period was entered into with the parent/ pupil body, and that their views were considered prior to award of contract.
3.2 The school must give parents clear guidelines as to which items must be school specific uniform items and which, if any, can be general clothing meeting general colour specifications (e.g. white shirts).
3.3 Following selection of the supplier, schools have a responsibility to inform parents/ pupils of the new supplier, dates under which this will operate, and rationale for selection.

4. CONTRACTS TERMS
4.1 Where the school relies on third parties to invest in stock, in order to meet their required service levels the following should be considered:
4.1.1 Agreed product list. The supplier should agree with the school the exact mix of product/ brands/quality supplied to the parent, and should commit to not making any changes without the school's agreement.
4.1.2 A fixed term contract or an agreed notice period (for both parties) should be agreed at the time of contract award. The notice period should be fair and allow (a) new supply routes to be established and (b) current suppliers to manage existing stocks.
4.1.3 Supply option should be considered to ensure that uniform items are available all year round, whether on a sole or joint basis
4.1.4 Anticipated number of school children, and notification of any significant increase/decrease during the contract period.
4.2 A number of penalties should be included within the supply agreements and cover the following scenarios:
4.2.1 Failure to supply: leaving the school/ children without uniform (agreement should be reached over this if critical e.g. stock levels should be agreed against the year, and a tolerance percentage e.g. 95% supply acceptable, 50% unacceptable).
4.2.2 Change of uniform: where schools make a change and fail to inform the supplier(s) within the agreed timeframe, thus leaving the 3rd parties with un-saleable stock
4.3 Complaints procedure for schools and parents
4.3.1 All schools are required by law to have a procedure in place to deal with complaints about the school, including school uniform.
4.3.2 While the school will need to deal with complaints by parents under their own policy, they will also need to set up a separate procedure with the supplier to deal with any parental complaints which relate directly to the supply/quality of school uniform.