Business
Free school uniform schemes demand is rising – Telford charities
Andy GiddingsBBC News, West Midlands
Telford Crisis SupportSchemes offering help to families struggling with the cost of school uniforms have reported a growth in demand this summer.
It comes after the average cost of a school uniform was just over £340 for primary school children and around £454 for those in secondary education, government figures indicated earlier this year.
The charity Parentkind produced research this month which suggests 30% of parents go without food or heating to afford uniform and 45% rely on credit cards.
Erin Aston, from Telford Crisis Support, said: “If somebody can’t afford food they might not be able to afford other items like uniform.”
The charity runs a scheme which has been giving free school uniform to children in the Telford area since 2019 and it has grown year-on-year.
‘Branded items expensive’
In its first year it received 125 requests, but Ms Aston, the charity’s coordinator, said this year it had received 320 requests in August alone and a similar number in July, with those two months the most busy.
The charity is helped by the local authority as well as businesses and community groups.
Buying school uniform could be expensive, Ms Aston said, especially branded items such as blazers and PE kit, which are often in short supply at the charity.
But she said legislation, due to come in next year, which will limit the number of branded items schools can ask parents to buy would be a big help.
Zoe TurnerZoe Turner runs a similar scheme in nearby Shifnal, which collects donated school uniforms and then gives them away for a donation of just £1 per item.
She set up Uniforms Together at the start of the year, initially to help parents with the cost of Scouts uniform, which she said was in limited supply at charity shops.
She has been supported by Woods, the local dry cleaners, which cleans the clothing and serves as a collection point and by St Andrew’s Church, which provides venues for the sales.
‘World Book Day help’
Ms Turner said 236 items went in her first sale, in April, and another 370 were snapped up this summer, with another sale due next month, with all money going to local church groups for children.
She said her group had become “really busy” and was now taking donations for schools outside Shifnal.
Her next move is to offer prom clothes and costumes for World Book Day, but storage space has become an issue, so she has asked local businesses if they have room they can give up.
Wolverhampton City Credit UnionWolverhampton City Credit Union gives a different form of support.
Since last year it has been offering to match pound-for-pound the first £75 paid into one of its child savings accounts.
That extra money can then be spent on school uniforms.
‘Super, super busy’
Antoinette Kelly, who operates the scheme, said she believed: “Every child deserves the chance to have a new uniform on the first day of term.”
Last year 340 children were supported by the scheme and she said it had been “super, super busy” this summer.
The scheme is financed by the city council. and she expected demand this year to be even greater than last year and said it was better for families to use offers like this than to get into debt by taking out loans.
She also said Wolverhampton had numerous second hand uniform banks, based at community centres and churches around the city.
Business
India charts strategy to soften 50% US tariff on exports, govt working overtime with stakeholders: CEA Anantha Nageswaran – The Times of India
Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said the government, along with various stakeholders, is working overtime to cushion India’s export sector from the impact of the 25% additional tariff imposed by the United States, which has raised the overall duty to 50%.Speaking virtually at an event organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, he said crises, whether minor or major, often act as catalysts for action by the government, private sector and households, PTI reported. Since the US tariffs took effect on August 27, “conversations have been happening in the last three to four days” involving exporting bodies, promotion agencies and ministries, he added.The Ministry of Finance and other ministries are “working overtime” to frame a strategy that would provide both a “time cushion” and a “financial cushion” so affected sectors can “weather the present storm and also emerge stronger,” Nageswaran said. He also noted that a proposed agreement with the US, negotiated “in good faith” and nearly concluded, had been delayed due to “unexpected developments,” though not denied.The CEA also referred to India facing a penal tariff for buying Russian crude oil, which the Ministry of External Affairs has described as unreasonable. He expressed hope that the tariffs would be “short-lived” and that “an understanding of the importance of the larger dimensions of the India-US relationship will eventually prevail.”Highlighting “silver linings,” Nageswaran pointed out that India’s real GDP grew 7.8% year-on-year in Q1, while nominal GDP rose 8.8%, above private economists’ estimates. He attributed the lower nominal growth compared to earlier quarters to “good deflation,” driven by easing input costs such as crude oil and industrial metals, even as enterprises retained pricing power.The manufacturing sector’s Gross Value Added rose 10.1% in nominal terms and 7.7% in real terms, reflecting resilience. He said this underpins optimism that full-year nominal GDP growth will stay near the 10.1% assumed in the Union Budget.Nageswaran flagged that the “huge tax cut” for households with annual income up to Rs 26.7 lakh, announced in February, is already showing in higher advance tax payments. Further relief is expected through GST rationalisation and simplification.He also pointed to the new employment-linked incentive scheme, which rewards both employers and employees, calling it crucial to balance job creation with competitiveness in the AI era.On the global front, the CEA underlined India’s credit rating upgrade by Standard & Poor’s — the first in 30 years — and expressed confidence that Fitch may follow. He stressed that fiscal prudence, with the deficit brought down to 4.4% this year from 9.2% in 2021, has reduced borrowing costs and the private sector’s cost of capital by three percentage points over the last decade.Nageswaran said India is actively diversifying trade ties through FTAs with the UAE and UK, and ongoing talks with Oman and Bahrain, some of which could materialise before year-end. Calling the current situation an opportunity, he urged industry to diversify export markets, invest in R&D and product innovation, and improve practices to stay competitive.“Each one of us has an obligation to ourselves, society, our employees and our customers to use this opportunity to improve the way we do business and strive for innovation and excellence,” he said.He added that the government will double down on deregulation, ease of doing business and job creation while engaging with the US to resolve the tariff issue.
A sign for the CDC sits outside of their facility at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Roybal campus in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., May 30, 2025.
Megan Varner | Reuters
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told staff it expects them to return to offices by Sept. 15, roughly five weeks after a gunman’s deadly attack on the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta, CNBC has learned.
“Your safety remains our top priority. We are taking necessary steps to restore our workplace and will return to regular on-site operations no later than Monday, September 15,” Lynda Chapman, the agency’s new chief operating officer, said in an email sent Thursday that was viewed by CNBC.
Chapman said all staff will be expected to return to their offices by that date, according to the email. For employees whose workspaces remain impacted by the shooting — including physical damage from the gunman’s attack — the CDC will provide alternative spaces on its campus, Chapman wrote in the email.
She said the agency has made “significant progress” on repairs at the CDC Roybal Campus in Atlanta. CDC leadership and a “Response and Recovery Management” team are working to address staff concerns and ensure a safe environment as the agency transitions back to in-office work, Chapman added.
CDC staff had been instructed to work remotely following the Aug. 8 shooting, with options to return to the office in the weeks that followed, according to two people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution for speaking to the media.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The internal announcement comes at a tumultuous time for the CDC and its workforce. The shooting didn’t result in injuries among CDC staff but shell-shocked a workforce that was already reeling from sweeping changes under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including staff cuts and heated controversy over his efforts to change CDC immunization policies and fire the agency’s panel of vaccine advisors.
The return-to-office guidance also comes as the CDC grapples with a leadership upheaval: The White House earlier this week said President Donald Trump had fired the agency’s director, Susan Monarez. Four other top officials resigned, some of them citing the politicization of the agency and a threat to public health.
Authorities identified the gunman behind the shooting at CDC headquarters as Patrick Joseph White and said they recovered five guns and more than 500 shell casings from the scene. During the attack, agency employees were forced to barricade themselves in offices.
White fatally shot a responding police officer, 33-year-old David Rose, and then killed himself. White had blamed the Covid-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal.
Before her firing, Monarez appeared to directly blame the role of misinformation in the shooting, according to an email sent to staff on Aug. 12 that was viewed by CNBC.
In the note, Monarez said, “the dangers of misinformation and its promulgation has now led to deadly consequences. I will work to restore trust in public health to those who have lost it- through science, evidence, and clarity of purpose. I will need your help.”
New Delhi: The industry, on Saturday, welcomed the important step taken by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) extending the Export Obligation (EO) period under advance authorisation for products subjected to mandatory Quality Control Orders (QCOs) issued by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC).
In respect of QCOs notified by the Ministry of Textiles, the EO period under advance authorisation had already been extended from six to 18 months.
Together, these measures provide timely and much-needed relief to exporters of man-made fibre (MMF) textiles and technical textiles, according to an official statement.
These measures will improve ease of doing business as well as improve competitiveness of Indian products.
Under the Advance Authorisation Scheme, duty-free imports of inputs are permitted for use in physical exports, without the mandatory requirement of compliance with QCOs for such imports.
This flexibility ensures continued availability of critical raw materials for the textile industry and facilitates uninterrupted export performance, the statement said.
Notably, around 18 per cent of all advance authorisations are issued for the textile sector, underlining the significance of this facilitation measure.
The import duty on cotton (Harmonized System code 5201) has been exempted till December 31, 2025, which will additionally strengthen raw material availability for the sector.
The government through Production Linked Incentive, National Technical Textiles Mission extend, and interventions as above continues to support the textiles and technical textiles, which together constitute a key growth segment for textile production.
India’s exports under the entire MMF value chain were valued at $8.46 billion in 2024-25, including $401 million of MMF fibre exports.
These decisions will help ease input cost pressures, ensure raw material security, and support the global competitiveness of Indian textile exports.
The measures and interventions by the DCPC and DGFT are proactive and forward-looking.
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