Philip Hammond will promise at Wednesday’s spring statement to end “period poverty” in English secondary schools by funding a scheme to make free sanitary products available from September, the Guardian has learned.
Campaigners have been calling for action from the government, amid claims that girls from low-income families can end up missing school during their periods because they are unable to afford sanitary protection.
A survey of 1,000 girls and women aged 14 to 21 carried out for the charity Plan International in 2017 found that one in 10 had been unable to afford sanitary wear and 12% had had to improvise protection because of the prohibitive cost. The government has been told that many headteachers make products available for girls who cannot afford them.
The chancellor will announce that he is asking Damian Hinds, the education secretary, and Penny Mordaunt, minister for women and equalities, to design a scheme that would be implemented in all secondary schools in England.
The scheme is expected to mirror one already in place in Scotland. It is understood that the Treasury has not yet carried out a detailed costing, but when the Scottish equivalent was announced last year, it was expected to cost £5m.
Full details of the funding will be announced in the spending review, expected later in the year – but Hammond is expected to make clear that the Treasury will fund it in full, and that availability will not be restricted, for example, to those students eligible for free school meals.
The announcement is part of a cross-government push on eliminating period poverty, and follows the NHS pledge to make tampons and sanitary towels available to patients. Mordaunt has announced that the Department for International Development has allocated £2m to tackling the issue globally.
Dawn Butler, the shadow minister for women and equalities, said: “This is a victory for all those who have campaigned for an end to period poverty. I set out Labour’s support for free sanitary products in secondary schools at Labour conference in 2017, so we’re pleased that the government has adopted yet another Labour policy.
“It’s a disgrace that period poverty exists in the sixth richest country in the world.”
Next week’s spring statement is expected to be a low-key affair, with few new tax and spending pledges. But Hammond is likely to reiterate the argument that a no-deal Brexit, which MPs will have the chance to vote on later the same day, would wipe out the contingency funds he has set aside, which could otherwise be spent on boosting public services.
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