Builth Wells Town Council could provide washing vouchers to help struggling families

Builth Wells Town Council has said it would be willing to provide the vouchers if there is a demand for them in the town.

Town clerk Louise Hammond said she saw an item on The Hygiene Crisis on the television where low-income parents were resorting to desperate coping tactics to wash their children’s uniforms or sports kits.

She said: “I was quite shocked about it. It was quite sad – it must be awful if you are not able to wash your children’s uniform and sports kits, because it is something that can single children out and children can be quite nasty of each other.”

Mrs Hammond said she had contacted the local primary school to ask if anyone at the school would benefit from washing vouchers and if there is, maybe the council could get some to help.

She said the council would not need any details of the people involved and there may be a way of including a washing voucher with a food hamper.

Mrs Hammond said the primary school had asked for more details but she had not heard back from them since. She said the council should ‘watch this space’.

New polling by YouGov and fuel and water poverty charity National Energy Action shows over one-third (38.37%) of low-income parents could send children into school in non-uniform items because they may not be able to afford the costs of washing dirty items in the future.

Nearly four in ten (38.61%) low-income parents could resort to using a friend or family’s washing machine to wash school uniforms. 

Project Development Manager (Water Poverty) Jess Cook at fuel poverty charity National Energy Action says: “As children head back to school for a new term, it might be hard to escape the pictures flooding social media of them lined up in pristine uniforms. 

“But for many low-income parents it’s an image that’s almost impossible to live up to. Amid the cost-of-living crisis, we at National Energy Action have found that parents are being forced into drastic coping tactics including buying cheaper non-uniform items, using a friend or family’s washing machine to save the water and energy costs or even washing them by hand. A clean school uniform may not seem remarkable, but a stained or dirty one, or one with the wrong items can see children getting singled out.”