Girls in Northern Ireland will have the legal right to wear trousers to school from the 2027/28 academic year, after Education Minister Paul Givan issued revised uniform guidelines this week. The change follows months of campaigning by young people and pressure from Assembly members who accused the minister of failing to guarantee this right in the original School Uniforms Act passed earlier this year.
The revised guidelines are legally binding under the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Act (Northern Ireland) 2026, which came into operation on 20 February 2026. The Act was designed primarily to reduce uniform costs for families, but the question of girls’ right to wear trousers became a flashpoint after the original legislation failed to explicitly address it.
What the new guidelines require
The Department of Education has stipulated that from September 2027, all grant-aided and independent primary and post-primary schools must:
- Include the option for girls to wear trousers throughout the school year
- Extend this option to PE and Games lessons
- Update their uniform policies to reflect these requirements
The change will not apply during the 2026/27 academic year, giving schools time to adjust their policies.
Minister responds to campaigners
Paul Givan framed the revision as a response to direct engagement with young people. In his statement, he said:
“I have listened carefully over recent months to young people and the message is clear: girls want the choice to wear trousers as part of their school uniform.
“There is always a balance to be struck between the autonomy of schools to determine their uniform policy and the level of prescription in Departmental guidelines. However, this issue really matters to many young people. After careful consideration, I have, therefore acted to remove any uncertainty for pupils, parents and schools.”
He concluded:
“The revised guidelines will guarantee that girls have the option to wear trousers in every school. My Department will continue to engage with and support schools as they implement the new requirements.”
Assembly pressure and criticism
The revision follows sustained pressure from the Assembly’s Education Committee, which had been pursuing separate legislation to guarantee girls’ right to wear trousers. Committee chair Nick Mathison, an Alliance MLA, described the minister’s move as a “welcome U-turn from the Education Minister” and noted that “substantial sums of public money have been spent on drafting legislation to fix his error of judgement.”
Sinn Féin’s education spokesperson Cathy Mason welcomed the change but said it “should never have been controversial and it should not have taken this long.” The Social Democratic and Labour Party also credited young campaigners who “refused to let the issue disappear.”
Gaps in the original legislation
The School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill was introduced by Givan in February 2025 and received Royal Assent on 19 February 2026. It placed a statutory duty on the Department to issue guidelines on uniform affordability, requiring schools to:
- Ensure parents can buy items from multiple retailers, including supermarkets
- Run uniform banks or exchanges
- Avoid disciplining pupils for uniform breaches due to financial hardship
- Use free school meal eligibility (household income under £15,390) as a benchmark for affordability
However, the Act made no explicit reference to girls wearing trousers. Givan had previously argued that existing equality legislation gave girls the legal authority to challenge their schools, but critics noted this placed the burden on individual children to bring claims—something legal analysts described as creating “a gap in enforcement.”
Research from Queen’s University Belfast noted that the Act “goes only a small way toward ensuring girls throughout Northern Ireland are able to wear trousers at school,” with “meagre references in the guidelines, not the Act, of existing equality legislation and international standards.”
Implementation timeline
Schools now have until August 2027 to update their uniform policies. Parents will be able to complain to the Department if they believe a school is not adhering to the guidelines. The Department has committed to “engage with and support schools” through the transition.
The episode raises broader questions about how statutory guidance is developed and whether consultation processes adequately capture issues that become politically significant. The original consultation in 2024 received almost 7,500 responses, with over half from children and young people who prioritised “cost and comfort”—yet the trousers issue required separate legislative pressure to resolve.
Outstanding questions
- Why did the original School Uniforms Act fail to address an issue that campaigners had raised during consultation, and what does this suggest about how children’s voices are weighted in policy development?
- Will the Department actively monitor compliance with the new trousers requirement, or will enforcement continue to rely on parental complaints?
- How will schools balance the 2027/28 implementation timeline with their existing procurement contracts for uniform suppliers?
- Does the revised guidance adequately address other aspects of uniform equality, such as religious or cultural dress requirements, or does it risk being seen as a narrow fix for a specific political pressure point?