Business

School uniform costs ‘extortionate’ say parents in Hull

Published

1 month ago

August 12, 2025

Becki Bowden

The cost of school uniform and PE kits is “extortionate” and “ridiculous”, according to parents in Hull.

A poll by The Children’s Society charity said 38% of parents in the Yorkshire and Humber region and 37% in the East Midlands are struggling to afford mandatory uniform and PE kit.

Karyssa Bates from Hull, who has four children, said she starts saving at Christmas to afford uniform for the following academic year which she described as “difficult”.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it was changing the law to limit the number of branded items schools can insist on.

A spokesperson added: “Our Plan for Change is removing barriers to opportunity, with limits on branded items of school uniform just one of the steps we’re taking to put money back into parents’ pockets and break the link between background and success.”

Becki Bowden/BBC A woman with blonde hair and sunglasses holds her mobile phone and shopping bags as she smiles into the camera. She is standing on a street with shops on the right and parked cars on the left. — Alex Fenwick said her daughter’s branded uniform costs around £150 and she still needed to buy extra items

The average cost of a school uniform is just over £340 for primary school children and around £454 for those in secondary education, according to DfE figures.

Ms Bates added: “It is difficult to be able to afford to get all brand new uniforms because they grow so quickly.

“Every year they need new uniform and sometimes they need more than one pair of shoes throughout the year.”

Alex Fenwick said branded uniform for her daughter, who is starting secondary school, cost around £150. In addition to the branded items, Ms Fenwick also needs to buy shirts, shoes and a bag.

Ms Fenwick, who is disabled and receives benefits, told the BBC she had to ask her parents for financial help as “everything is so tight, I just can’t afford it.”

Becki Bowden/BBC A man with short grey hair and wearing a dark coloured polo shirt stands in a hall surrounded by clothes rails. — Michael Morris, who runs a uniform swap shop in Lincolnshire, said repurposing school clothing would save money and reduce items going to landfill

Michael Morris, the founder of a health and well-being charity in Lincolnshire, runs a uniform swap-shop from Boston Youth Hub which launched after he noticed finances were “very tight for a lot of people”.

He said: “The idea is for a lot of the kids they grow out of their uniforms but they’re still in good order.

“So why not repurpose them? Rather than going to landfill, we can reuse them and other families can make good use of them.”

“Being able to have something like this means it’s easier for them [families] and means they’ve hopefully got a few more pennies at the end of the month.”

Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council offer grants to help parents to cover the cost of school clothing.

Councillor Jack Haines, the portfolio holder for communications and policy delivery at Hull City Council, said: “This new investment has seen support for over 2,600 pupils across the city, with more to come this year.

“We are now keen to see the government push through the planned changes to the school uniform policies in England under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would ease the pressure further for families.”

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Business

Parents of teens who died by suicide after AI chatbot interactions to testify to Congress

Published

31 minutes ago

September 16, 2025

Matt O'Brien, Associated Press

The parents of teenagers who killed themselves after interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots are planning to testify to Congress on Tuesday about the dangers of the technology.

Matthew Raine, the father of 16-year-old Adam Raine of California, and Megan Garcia, the mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III of Florida, are set to speak to a Senate hearing on the harms posed by AI chatbots.

Raine’s family sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman last month alleging that ChatGPT coached the boy in planning to take his own life in April. Garcia sued another AI company, Character Technologies, for wrongful death last year, arguing that before his suicide, Sewell had become increasingly isolated from his real life as he engaged in highly sexualized conversations with the chatbot.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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Hours before the Senate hearing, OpenAI pledged to roll out new safeguards for teens, including efforts to detect whether ChatGPT users are under 18 and controls that enable parents to set “blackout hours” when a teen can’t use ChatGPT. Child advocacy groups criticized the announcement as not enough.

“This is a fairly common tactic — it’s one that Meta uses all the time — which is to make a big, splashy announcement right on the eve of a hearing which promises to be damaging to the company,” said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a group advocating for children’s online safety.

“What they should be doing is not targeting ChatGPT to minors until they can prove that it’s safe for them,” Golin said. “We shouldn’t allow companies, just because they have tremendous resources, to perform uncontrolled experiments on kids when the implications for their development can be so vast and far-reaching.”

The Federal Trade Commission said last week it had launched an inquiry into several companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.

The agency sent letters to Character, Meta and OpenAI, as well as to Google, Snap and xAI.

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Business

Disney, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery Sue Chinese AI Company For Copyright Infringement

Published

1 hour ago

September 16, 2025

Erik Gruenwedel

Disney, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery Sue Chinese AI Company For Copyright Infringement

Shutterstock image

Erik Gruenwedel

September 16, 2025

Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery Sept. 16 filed a lawsuit against Chinese AI company MiniMax claiming the company is stealing their intellectual property without permission.

Hollywood continues its ramp up legal offensive against artificial intelligence companies as the technology evolves enabling third-parties to artificially create content on the backs of existing content.

MiniMax is marketing software to consumers called Hailuo that affords users access to studio images and videos from characters such as Spider-Man, Superman, Darth Vader, Shrek, Buzz Lightyear and Bugs Bunny, among others.

“MiniMax’s bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S. copyright law are not only an attack on Plaintiffs and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry, which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy,” read the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California in Los Angeles.

The litigation comes after the studios say their calls to MiniMax to stop using their IP illegally were ignored.

In June, Disney and NBCU sued San Francisco-based AI company Midjourney claiming the company was marketing software featuring their IP without permission.