The Office of Fair Trading surveyed more than 2,000 schools afterreceiving complaints from parents about high prices and a lack ofchoice.
The inquiry found that 84 per cent of schools operate exclusiveagreements that force parents to buy at least one item from a limitedrange of specified suppliers. These items were found to be on average 23per cent more expensive than from uniform retailers generally and 150per cent more expensive than from supermarkets.
The office estimates the total annual extra cost is 32m forparents buying secondary school uniforms and 13m for primaryschool uniforms - a total of 45m.
John Fingleton, chief executive of the office, said: "This study hasshown that parents have to pay higher prices for school uniforms whereexclusive agreements exist. This restriction on competition acts as atax, which mostly goes to the chosen retailers. We call on schoolgovernors to eliminate these exclusive agreements."
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