Parents would be forced to spend their annual Schoolkids Bonus on uniforms, textbooks and other educational expenses, under a redesign promoted by a major charity and embraced by Senate crossbenchers.

The government had hoped to get rid of the Schoolkids Bonus – worth $820 a year for a high school student and $410 a year for a primary school student – as part of its repeal of the mining tax, but had been blocked by the Senate.

Senate crossbenchers agree that the Schoolkids bonus should only be spend on school supplies.

Key Senate crossbenchers said they wanted the bonus to remain but were willing to consider amendments including restricting it to low-income families and targeting it at spending on education.

The bonus had been controversial since its introduction. Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne warned the payments could be spent on "plasma televisions, booze or be run through poker machines and into the pockets of poker machine barons" rather than on education.