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A Government scheme to provide free period products has been expanded to include reusable items – but the Social Security Minister is still yet to remove GST from menstrual products after branding it a “discriminatory tax” just last year.
The scheme, launched as a pilot in September 2022, aimed to support those struggling with the cost of living and offer an alternative to removing GST from period products.
It came after politicians narrowly agreed to reverse a previous decision to make menstrual products exempt from GST – meaning that Jersey is the only place left in the British Isles to have not got rid of what has become known as the ‘tampon tax’.
Pictured: The £600,000 pilot programme has so far distributed over 55,000 packs of period products.
The £600,000 pilot programme, which has so far distributed over 55,000 packs of period products, has now been updated by Social Security Minister Lyndsay Feltham to offer islanders three different ways of getting hold of period products.
The first provides small packs of two or three pads or tampons for immediate use via dispensers located in 17 community settings and 16 public toilets. This aims to reduce waste by ensuring people only take what they need when they are ‘caught short’.
The second allows people to get hold of monthly supplies of pads, tampons, and liners from 22 locations across the island, including pharmacies and retailers like Waitrose and Co-op.
The third allows islanders to pick up reusable period products – such as menstrual cups and period pants – from Brook, GUM, Le Bas Centre and the Bridge.
It comes after the founders of a project to educate young people about sustainable period products called for reusable pads, menstrual cups and period pants to be included in the Government's free period product scheme.
However, notably absent from the scheme is the decision to remove GST from period products – a move Deputy Feltham had pushed before before she become a Minister.
Last year, Deputy Feltham argued that GST on menstrual products was a “discriminatory tax” and that it was wrong to classify essential items like tampons as “luxury goods”.
Before stepping into her current role, the Reform politician also criticised former Chief Minister Kristina Moore and the previous Social Security Minister Elaine Millar for failing to act on this issue.
In August 2023, she branded Deputy Moore as "disingenuous" for giving her backing to a "disappointing" plan to scrap a previous commitment to remove GST from period products, saying it was “concerning that the Chief Minister can change her principles so quickly” — while also claiming her processor “was not committed to the project enough”.
Deputy Feltham said last year: “I hope that the Social Security Minister will take this more seriously and make the scheme better and ideally move toward removing GST from period products.”
Pictured: Deputy Feltham branded former Chief Minister Kristina Moore as "disingenuous" for backing a plan to scrap a the commitment to remove GST from period products.
Despite her past criticism, Deputy Feltham has not removed GST from period products since she became Social Security Minister in January – and has instead focused on expanding the existing scheme.
She said: “We have taken the time to learn from the pilot scheme as well as holding focus groups to hear directly from islanders to understand what has worked well and where we could make improvements to the range and to locations.
“All of this feedback has been extremely helpful and has led us to deliver a refreshed scheme which I believe will serve islanders much better.
“We have also considered how the products are distributed to make sure they are done so in the best way possible.”
More information on the scheme, including participating locations, is available at gov.je/periods.
“We have made period products free at more than 14 locations"
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Free period products to be made available around the island
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