State government urged to ease BTS costs.

 

Social services organisations have called on the NSW state government to reinstate its back-to-school voucher program, as more families struggle with rising cost-of-living pressures. 

 

In its first budget, the NSW Labor government announced it would not repeat the previous government’s 2023 back-to-school voucher program, a cost-of-living assistance package that gave all parents three $50 vouchers to subsidise school supplies, uniforms and technology.

 

NSW Council of Social Service acting chief executive Ben McAlpine called for the $150 back-to-school voucher program to also be reinstated for low-income earners.

 

"The Back-to-School vouchers, along with slashing Active Kids, Creative Kids and First Lap vouchers, are casualties of Premier Chris Minns' broken promise that his union wage deals would be Budget-neutral and funded through productivity gains," NSW Opposition leader Mark Speakman said.

 

As previously reported, a Finder.com report found the average annual cost of school supplies for a primary school student – including a uniform and electronic devices, split over years of use – was $684.