Women’s charities ‘not getting enough money’ promised by government from tampon tax fund

Out of the 10 charities chosen this year, only one is a specialist women's organisation

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The women’s charity sector claims it's struggling because not enough money raised from the Government's Tampon Tax Fund is going to specialist organisations dedicated to supporting women.

The Women’s Resource Centre (WRC), which is the leading national umbrella organisation for the women’s sector in the UK, has written an open letter to the department for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) calling for them to ringfence money raised from the five per cent VAT on tampons and sanitary towels so that more of it goes to supporting women’s organisation as promised.

The annual tampon tax disbursement was introduced in 2015 after activists campaigned for the government to abolish the levy altogether.

At the time, the then-Chancellor George Osborne pledged to try and change the regulations as set out by the EU, but in the meantime would use the money raised “to fund women’s health and support charities”.

But according to WRC, whose letter boasts more than 100 signatories, not enough women are benefiting from the initiative.

The organisation criticised the fact that out of the 10 charities chosen by the DCMS to benefit from the £15m fund last year, only two were specialist women’s organisations.

This year, among large charities like Comic Relief, Crisis UK and Homeless Link, there was only one: Southall Black Sisters, which supports abused women.

“We are concerned that even when women’s charities have led bids, or applied in consortia-type arrangements, it is larger generic organisations that have been granted the funding,” the letter reads.

“We are very concerned that the success of some of these bids will cause further damage to the fragile women’s charity sector by drawing investment to generic providers.”

The letter goes on to point out that many women’s charities are grassroots organisations that are not eligible for funding from the DCMS given that organisations are required to apply for at least £1m.

In response to the WRC’s letter, a spokesperson for DCMS said: “Every project that receives Tampon Tax Funding must benefit women and girls. Funding is allocated to reach projects across the UK.

“This year alone, £7.5 million has been awarded to organisations that will benefit small and medium charities, including those supporting vulnerable women and projects addressing violence against women and girls.”