Research finds UK’s school staff spent £40m of their own money supporting pupils in hygiene poverty in past year, as campaign calls on new government taskforce to help
- 80% of school staff have seen a rise in hygiene poverty in schools over the past year, as latest figures reveal 4.2million Brits are unable to afford hygiene basics
- Over a quarter of state school staff (28%) have seen children miss school entirely due to hygiene poverty, as staff note children arriving in dirty uniforms and with unclean hair
- Almost 9 in 10 (88%) state school staff say they or another colleague have personally supported a pupil in hygiene poverty, with over a third (40%) personally washing pupils’ uniforms leaving teachers ‘distraught’, ‘powerless’ and asking for ‘radical change to be implemented’
- Laundry challenger brand, smol, in collaboration with The Hygiene Bank, launches Clean Up Child Hygiene Poverty – a campaign supported by teachers union, NASUWT, calling on the government to urgently address the issue in its upcoming Child Poverty Strategy
Teachers are calling for urgent action from the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce as new research reveals the UK’s school staff have spent £40M over the past year supporting pupils with hygiene issues. This comes as growing levels of hygiene poverty impact children’s wellbeing and ability to learn.
Research from smol, in collaboration with charity, The Hygiene Bank, has found that the UK’s state school staff believe that, on average, over a third (37%) of pupils in their school are experiencing, or have experienced, hygiene poverty; not being able to afford many of the everyday hygiene and personal grooming products most of us take for granted. Almost all school staff (95%) have been aware of pupils in hygiene poverty over the past year, and over 1 in 6 (17%) have been aware of this every single day.
Almost two thirds of staff (62%) have seen children arriving at school with dirty uniforms or kit, and 60% have noted unclean hair or teeth. Staff have observed lack of self-esteem (51%), bullying (41%) and isolation (36%) as leading impacts on the pupils affected. The issue is so prevalent that 1 in 6 school staff (16%) have even been approached by a pupil about a fellow child experiencing hygiene poverty.
The research has found an impact on school staff financially and emotionally with almost a quarter (23%) feeling that there is an over-reliance on them to personally pay for hygiene products. Of the school staff who have personally supported a pupil, half (50%) have purchased a pupil laundry detergent, 41% have personally washed pupils’ uniforms and over half (60%) have personally purchased pupils’ soap or toiletries. Over a third (38%) of school staff say they often think about the children impacted and take these thoughts home with them and a third (33%) say it makes the classroom harder to manage. Despite its prevalence, over half (52%) of state school staff think hygiene poverty as an issue is understood by schools but not by the general public.
As a result, almost all (98%) school staff say that child hygiene poverty should be addressed by the Labour government’s newly-announced ministerial taskforce, co-chaired by the Work & Pensions and Education Secretaries, who are leading on the UK’s Child Poverty Strategy. As yet, the taskforce has not mentioned hygiene poverty as part of its agenda or any specific measures it will implement.
With the taskforce putting the ‘direct testimony of children, families and organisations at the heart of their work’, smol and The Hygiene Bank’s ‘Clean Up Child Hygiene Poverty’ campaign, backed by the teachers union NASUWT, hopes to give the government valuable insight into the growing issue of child hygiene poverty from those who experience it firsthand.
The campaign is inviting the British public to write to their local MP to bring the urgency of child hygiene poverty to the attention of the taskforce – with smol providing a quick and easy template to do so, via the Clean Up Child Hygiene Poverty website at www.smolproducts.com/clean-up-child-hygiene-poverty where people can also find out more about the research findings.
smol and The Hygiene Bank have today issued an open letter to the taskforce’s co-chairs, Liz Kendall and Bridget Phillipson, asking that the urgent issue of hygiene poverty be firmly part of the agenda for the upcoming Child Poverty Strategy, and has invited the taskforce to personally discuss the issue in full detail with them at a primary school that is tackling the issue on the ground.
The letter was delivered to the government’s front door in Westminster on Monday, with smol and The Hygiene Bank erecting a giant washing line, adorned with 40 pieces of childrens’ school uniforms, highlighting the £40m spent personally by school staff in supporting pupils in hygiene poverty.
smol has provided mini laundrettes to 100 UK schools since 2020, as part of its Suds in Schools initiative, to help schools support children and their families with access to clean clothes. But schools are struggling, with 1 in 10 school staff surveyed (11%) saying their school currently doesn’t offer any support whatsoever for pupils or families and 42% not agreeing that their school would increase support in the coming year – despite rates of hygiene poverty continuing to increase.
Hilary Strong, smol Suds in Schools lead, said: “As one member of school staff noted in our research: “Every child has the right to be clean and feel clean.” The right to clean clothes has never been more important, and smol’s research shows that not only does childrens’ hygiene have a huge impact on their wellbeing and learning, but on those in charge of safeguarding them, too.
Staff, charities and organisations have led on fundamental support for children and their families, but now we need more support at a governmental level, so that we can fight child hygiene poverty together. It starts with the taskforce acknowledging the issues and experiences of children, staff and families to understand what great support should look like.”
Ruth Brock, CEO at The Hygiene Bank, said: “It’s heartbreaking that in 2024 children across the UK are missing out on their education because their families cannot afford what they need to stay clean. Hygiene poverty is a silent crisis that impacts not only children’s health and wellbeing, but also their ability to participate fully in school – potentially limiting their life chances. Teachers need to be able to teach – they should not be left to fill the gap, financially and emotionally, by providing these essentials. The government’s Child Poverty Taskforce must urgently address this issue ensuring that no child’s future is limited by the shame and isolation caused by hygiene poverty.”
Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said: “No child should suffer the shame and embarrassment of coming to school in dirty and unwashed clothes because their family either can’t afford to wash them, or doesn’t have enough money for spare items of school uniform- which are becoming increasingly expensive for many.
“It is undeniable that teachers are having to pick up the pieces of rising levels of child poverty, caused by the worst cost of living crisis in half a century.
“We welcome the new government’s pledges to tackle this issue and we want to see them look carefully at the issue of hygiene poverty and take steps to address this as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce. We are looking to ministers to work with us, support this important campaign and help deliver a future where no child is held back by poverty.”
Survey of UK School Staff
The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 503 18+ state school staff who interact with pupils at least 5 days per week. The data was collected between 09.09.2024-12.09.2024.
Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.
