Women and girls are set to benefit from £15 million of funding from the Tampon Tax Fund.
The Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Tracey Crouch, announced that a wide range of projects benefiting women and girls will receive the funding over the next two years.
Projects that tackle sexual violence, address social exclusion among BAME women and improve mental health and wellbeing will receive funding. The money will also be used to make grants to smaller organisations so they can deploy services that support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged women and girls in the country.
The ten projects receiving funding from this round of the Tampon Tax include UK Community Foundations; Brook Young People; Rape Crisis England & Wales; and Mind, amongst others.
Speaking about the funding, Crouch said, “The money generated from sanitary products is being invested in good causes that tackle the serious issues that women of all ages face.”
“It will be used to support vulnerable women and girls and help build a Britain fit for the future.”
Over 70 charities are already receiving grants through previous rounds of the fund, with a total of £32 million of funding having been announced since Autumn Statement 2015. This latest funding brings the total investment awarded from the Tampon Tax Fund to £47 million.
The government is committed to continuing the fund until EU rules allow a zero rate of VAT to be applied to women’s sanitary products. A decision will be made on the future of the Fund once this has been achieved.
A current EU law prohibits any Member State from applying a new zero rate of VAT. The government is currently applying the lowest rate, of five per cent, they can to these products.
