Women’s charities complain about applications process for ‘tampon tax’ funding

Last November, Chancellor George Osborne announced the sum raised in VAT from sanitary products would be collected into a fund for distribution to women’s health and support charities.

The announcement followed a campaign urging the UK Government to abolish the tax, which it said was not possible under EU rules. But yesterday a number of Scottish groups claimed they had not had a chance to apply because the Treasury failed to advertise the applications period before it closed on Monday.

Zero Tolerance, which campaigns against domestic abuse, confirmed it had not entered a bid, while Edinburgh-based Shakti Women’s Aid, which supports black minority ethnic women suffering abuse, said it had not known applications were open. Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre, which works in Dundee and Glasgow, said it too had missed the chance to apply.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) – the UK’s only museum dedicated to women’s history – said it had learned about the chance to apply just three days before the closing date. The fund, announced on November 25, was not advertised on the Government website on February 2.

Yesterday, the Treasury said more than 500 responses had been received, including a “healthy amount” from Scotland.

However, GWL development worker Rachel Thain-Gray criticised the applications process, saying it had been too short and poorly advertised. She told The National she learned about the deadline thanks to a tweet from Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss, who is now calling on the Treasury to reopen applications.

Thain-Gray said: “There was no application form, you just had to submit a proposal – luckily we had a project in mind, otherwise we would have really struggled to get it completed in time.

“The absolute minimum time to put a proposal together is two weeks, though we like to have up to a month to do research and make contact with partners."

She added: “This is not something I have ever, ever experienced before. I have been keeping a really keen eye on funding and going to all the places you would have a look online [but] I haven’t seen the information anywhere else.

“We are really good at finding funding. It’s strange that it wasn’t more publicly advertised.”

Maggie Chapman of Amina said the whole timing of the application period was wrong. She said: “There is a huge timing issue – we’re coming up to the end of the tax year, there are reports to be completed, smaller organisations do not have the capacity to handle other things at this time. Applications periods are normally open for about three months. We did not know when the deadline was.”

Thewliss said it took the Treasury 74 days to open the email address for submissions and has hit out at a “lack of transparency” over access to the fund, £5m of which was allocated ahead of submissions.

Scottish Women’s Aid chief executive Marsha Scott confirmed the tight timeframe also prevented her organisation from applying.

Successful applicants will be notified when the Budget is announced on March 16.

She has now called on Treasury Chief Secretary Greg Hands to reopen the fund, saying: “Serious questions need to be asked, such as who was responsible for advertising this funding, what happened between November 25 and February 2 and whether the Government proactively advertised this fund to groups other than a small article hidden away on the gov.uk website.

“It is clear that a number of charities might well have lost out on this opportunity for funding, which is totally unfair. I am therefore calling upon the Government to urgently reopen the application process and properly raise awareness about the tampon tax fund.”

The Treasury said: “We have received a very strong response from organisations across the UK including a healthy amount from Scotland. Furthermore, as we have made clear, this is an annual fund and we are continuing to welcome proposals from charities that will be considered for the future.”