60% of schools haven’t claimed free period products

Since the Government’s funding of free period products in schools launched in January, latest figures show 60% of eligible schools still haven’t signed up. To tackle this shortfall, Free Periods and The Red Box Project are today launching a Period Revolution, calling on all schools to take urgent action.

After a long-fought campaign by the likes of Free Periods and The Red Box Project, the Government finally provided all state-maintained primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England with funding for free period products. However, the scheme is opt-in and, after a turbulent six months, just 40% of eligible institutions have signed up.

As a result, millions of pounds committed by the Government to tackle period poverty currently sits untouched. With only three months of the year remaining, there is a concern that hundreds of schools will lose the funding if they don’t claim it by December – leading to young people missing yet more hours of education due to a lack of period supplies. After months out of the classroom and the financial strain of COVID-19 taking its toll on many households, the support is more crucial than ever. Indeed, research by Plan International shows nearly a third of girls have had issues accessing products during the pandemic.

To help teachers, parents and students encourage schools to sign up, Free Periods and The Red Box Project are providing a toolkit of practical resources that ‘Period Revolutionaries’ can deploy. This will include email templates, posters and flyers; more information can be found at https://www.freeperiods.org/.