The End of the ‘Tampon Tax’: How Law quietly changed Period Access in the UK

Keira Pearce

Law is so deeply intertwined into our society that it often appears in ways that no one would think to notice. In the UK, easy access to period products is generally the norm; most people would never consider being unable to use a pad or a tampon, and in recent years, this has become even more prominent due to increased access to period products in public bathrooms. But why is this?

The ’Tampon Tax’

In the UK, approximately 15 million people, or roughly 20-25% of the population menstruate, but, until 2021, the UK still had a so called ‘tampon tax’ on menstrual products. The ‘tampon tax’ name encapsulated the criticism that the government received for tampons, and other feminine hygiene products, being subject to value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax, unlike the tax exemption status granted to other products considered basic necessities, such as groceries, prescription medications and children’s clothing.  

The crux of the criticism around this was that it demonstrated the casual level of gender-based discrimination that is still prevalent in the UK today. Half of the population needs to use period products for a week, each month, every month, for about 30 years, and yet they were not seen as ‘essential’.

However, on the 1^st of January 2021, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced that the Government would ‘scrap the tampon tax’. This meant that VAT no longer applied to women’s sanitary products, largely due to Brexit, which meant that the UK was no longer legally bound by European Union regulations which subjected sanitary products to the EU VAT Directive, which legislated that no rate of VAT lower than a reduced rate of 5% could be applied to sanitary products.

The scrapping of this tax was one aspect of the Government’s commitment to ‘ending period poverty’ by making sanitary products affordable and available for all women. Period poverty is defined as not having access to menstrual products and safe and hygienic spaces in which to use them, and the right to manage menstruation without shame or stigma. In order to achieve this, the Government also made a commitment to create free access to period products for women and girls.

Free Access

In 2018, a survey of more than 2,000 people by Young Scot found that about one in four respondents at school, college or university in Scotland had struggled to access period products, suggesting that law reform surrounding free access to period products was urgently needed.

In Northern Ireland, the Period Products (Free Provision) Act 2022 established a legal requirement for public service bodies including schools, colleges, and health service providers, to ensure that period products are obtainable free of charge to those who need them. This legislation was introduced to address period poverty and to promote dignity, equality, and accessibility by removing financial barriers to essential menstrual products. As a result, institutions such as Queen’s University Belfast and other educational facilities are legally obligated to provide free period products, such as tampons and sanitary pads, within bathrooms and other accessible locations across their campuses. This ensures that students, staff, and visitors can obtain these products whenever necessary without cost or stigma.

On a larger, UK-wide scale, the Department of Education’s period product scheme similarly mandates that free period products be made available to women and girls in educational settings. The scheme supports schools and colleges by supplying menstrual products so that students can access them easily during the school day. Its aim is to reduce the impact of period poverty on attendance, participation, and wellbeing in education, ensuring that menstruation does not become a barrier to learning or equal participation in school life.

However, despite large leaps being made in Northern Ireland, England and Wales, they are still largely considered to be behind Scotland in terms of free access to period products. In 2022, under the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021, Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products free for all. Under this legal mandate, local authorities are legally required to ensure that products are available to ‘anyone who needs them’ in a ‘reasonably easy’ way and with ‘reasonable dignity’. In comparison to the rest of the UK, Scotland is unique in making this a universal, legally protected right rather than a voluntary or targeted scheme.

In terms of the success of this legislation in Scotland, of those who accessed the free products, 84% said the scheme had a positive impact on them.

Menstrual Equity

Ultimately, the main aim of legislation around access to period products in the UK is to ensure a level of equality surrounding female menstrual care, often defined as menstrual equity, which is the legal, social, and economic framework ensuring everyone can manage their menstruation with dignity, safety, and comfort. Although menstrual health and access to period care is not legally recognised as a human right, the World Health Organisation, in recent years, has called for ‘menstrual health to be recognised, framed, and addressed as a health and human rights issue, not a hygiene issue’. Moreover, the United Nations Human Rights Councillinks menstruation to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, non-discrimination and gender equality.

From a legal perspective, this may have been reached through the free access framework and removal of the tampon tax, however, reports suggest that there is still a crisis around menstrual equity present, with 21% of menstruating individuals struggling to afford products in 2025, up from 12% in 2024. Although this can largely be attributed to the ongoing cost of living crisis in the UK, it could be argued that there still needs to be further legislation surrounding easier access to period products. Perhaps this could be modelled on the Scottish framework, with an additional regulation on the cost of these essential items which impact half the population on an everyday basis, and access to which should never be complex.