The Fashion and Textile Children’s Trust has pledged to hand £2.4m within the next five years to help children of parents and carers working in the industry.

This will see its grants value increase by just under a third by 2031, when it aims to support 4,600 children, up by more than a fifth.

The fashion industry grant maker has revealed the pledge in its latest strategy for 2026 to 2031, which has been developed with input from more than 200 parents in the industry.

The move has been made after the Trust estimates 8% of the fashion sector’s 1.4m workforce are parents or carers facing “significant financial hardship. Hardship is impacting 221,000 children, it estimates.

The trust is calling on other fashion sector retailers and brands to join current members including, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis Partnership, John Smedley, Charles Tyrwhitt, Boden and NEXT to support children of families in the sector.

“We know that families continue to face financial pressures and parents often tell us about the difficulties they face with rising household costs and the economic uncertainty caused by both global and national issues,” said the Trust’s chief executive Anna Pangbourne.

“In order to support more families, we are driving a step-change in employer engagement over the next five years.

“Our goal is to deepen our engagement with employers and significantly widen our community of industry partners to mobilise our industry network and establish FTCT as the primary champion for families across our sector.”

Over the last five years the Trust responded to 13,838 enquiries for support and awarded £1.82m in direct grant funding.

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