Free period products to be made available around the island

Thursday 20 October 2022

Free tampons and sanitary towels are due to be made available around the island at locations such as the library and sports centres as part of a new Government initiative aiming to ensure no one has to go without.

The period products scheme formed part of the Council of Ministers' '100-day plan', which comes to an end today.

The scheme has been developed in two parts:

• A pilot scheme has been launched to make sure that women, girls and anyone else who needs them, can have reasonable access to free period products. In doing so, the Government says it also aims to address period poverty, ensure period dignity, and remove stigma around the subject of periods. Products are available from Jersey Library's town premises and at Communicare, Les Quennevais Sports Centre, Fort Regent Sports Centre, and Customer and Local Services in La Motte Street.

• A public consultation to gain feedback from islanders on what other products and locations they would like to be involved in the scheme. The consultation will be live until 25 November 2022 and islanders can have their say by completing a short survey.

It comes after the States Assembly voted in favour of a proposal from Kristina Moore to scrap the so-called 'tampon tax' by removing the GST from period products. 

However, now as Chief Minister, Deputy Moore has decided to deliver on the overall goal of her proposal in a different way - by placing free period products in different locations around the island as part of a 100-day Plan commitment. 

When Chief Scrutineer Sam Mézec challenged the Chief Minister on the apparent lack of progress on the GST removal, Deputy Moore argued the free products scheme meant "the intention of my proposition has therefore been achieved and exceeded."

Speaking about free period products scheme launch, Social Security Minister Deputy Elaine Millar commented:"No one should feel embarrassed or feel they are unable to go to school or work because they do not have the period products they need."

Pictured: Deputy Millar said "no one should feel embarrassed or feel they are unable to go to school or work because they do not have the period products they need".

She continued: “I would encourage islanders to take part in the consultation so they can have their say and help us to provide the right products, making them accessible in the right locations as part of our full roll out next year. I want to make sure we are removing any stigma around periods and normalising this in our community.

"We will be actively communicating this message through our marketing campaign over the coming weeks to make sure we are sharing the message and raising visibility of the scheme.”

You can find out more here.