school shoes ?

debbieblueeyes · 6 September 2017 at 4:44PM

Hi im not sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes. We
took my nearly 14yo ASD,ODD,Hypermobile son shoe shopping Monday and we always have to shop in clarks as he has very wide feet, we got his feet measured, we started upstairs in children's section but they didn't have many styles which my son liked so went downstairs to the mens and ended up with an £89 pair :shocked: which fitted perfectly.My question is can i get the VAT back on them or any kind of refund? if so how and where do i go to get it.
Thank you in advance x

easy · 6 September 2017 at 5:43PM

No, sorry I don't think there is anywhere you can get any kind of refund.
To be honest I think nearly every boy is in adult-size shoes by age 14, and hence most parents are paying VAT on their children's shoes.
VAT is levied on all boys/mens shoes above a size 6 and a half (5 and a half for girls - size 3 if they have higher heels), regardless of whether they are sold in the childrens dept or not.

Do you get any benefits for your lad? If so, then you just have to console yourself with the thought that this is just the kind of thing the benefits are for - to meet any extra expenses not faced by people who don't have disabilities.

That said, my non-disabled son also has wide feet, and the same thing happened to us last year - the shoes that fitted him best were £90, so I just had to shell out I'm afraid.

winnac01 · 6 September 2017 at 6:08PM

Clarks or not at 14 my son wore(TORE) through a pair of shoes every school term £90 was not an option he was a size 10 at 14 we got his shoes at ASDA same place i got mine, At 18 he spends £90+ on shoes/ trainers but he works for a living now and pays for them himself and funnily enough they seem to last a bit longer.ha ha ha

debbieblueeyes · 6 September 2017 at 7:35PM

Thank you for your comments, in a way I didn't think so but was just checking. Unfortunately supermarket shoes dont come up wide enough, Evan his school uniform I can't get in a supermarket &#55357;&#56850; Oh well thank you anyway x

coffeehound · 6 September 2017 at 7:46PM

Sign up for the Clarks emails and at least you'll know when their regular sales are on. Should then be able to buy at half price in future.

kingfisherblue · 6 September 2017 at 8:02PM

If it's any consolation, my younger son was in size 11 by year 6 - I can't remember when he went into men's shoes. Fortunately his feet haven't grown much more, and at 17, he only takes a size 15. His feet are wide, and he is currently wearing safety boots - but he does need them for his work experience placements.

My other son has numerous disabilities, including hypermobility. He has to have prescribed insoles that are checked every three months. I asked about getting a second pair of insoles a few years ago, so that I didn't have to keep swapping them between different pairs of shoes and trainers. They did have VAT relief on them, because they were an item specifically for disability - but they were still £71 a pair!

Lanzarote1938 · 6 September 2017 at 9:48PM

Now you know the size he needs have a look at the Clarks Outlet site. Shoes there are often only £30 or so. They sometimes do free returns so possible to order a couple of pairs to try.

school shoes ?

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