M&S is campaigning to make your period pants cheaper

Period pants revolutionised the menstrual market as an eco-friendly alternative to pads and a less invasive alternative to menstrual cups and tampons. 

Not only do they help those of us who menstruate cut down on waste (traditional period products are made of 90% plastic and 45 billion are sent to landfill every year), they also help us to save money – well, in theory. 

Period pants, which only need to be changed every eight hours or so and can be a game-changer at night, can be reused over and over.

However, the upfront cost of these products is blocking many women from being able to buy them in the first place.

The problem is, companies that sell period underwear are forced to pay a 20% tax on their products, which are classed as garments.

This is despite the fact that the ‘tampon tax’ on period products was axed by the government in 2021, following a campaign.

This tax is passed onto the consumers, meaning period underwear could be cheaper if it was given the same status as disposable products. 

Marks & Spencer, which sells 6,000 packs of period pants a week, said they’d be able to cut the cost from £20 to £16 if the tax was removed.

Now, M&S, Wuka — two major retailers in the period pants space — are calling on the government to abolish the tax by classifying period pants as period products, not garments, cutting the costs in the process.

A letter to the financial secretary to the Treasury, Victoria Atkins, has gained over 50 signatures from a number of organisations and politicians, including the bosses of Ocado, the Marine Conservation society and leaders from The Football Association and campaigners Breast Cancer Now.

‘The government made a brilliant start by removing VAT from disposable period products, but we need them to finish the job and level the playing field,’ said Victoria McKenzie-Gould, corporate affairs director at M&S.

Speaking on the campaign, a spokesperson from the Treasury said: ‘We are committed to making sanitary products affordable and available to all who need them. 

‘That is why we have delivered on our promise to scrap the tampon tax so that VAT is no longer charged on sanitary products, such as pads, tampons and reusable menstrual products such as menstrual cups.

‘We have also rolled out free sanitary products in schools, colleges and hospitals to continue our fight to end period poverty once and for all.’

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