The Westminster Government has been accused of being political when allocating funding

The Westminster Government has been accused of sidelining women’s charities from tampon tax funding.

In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the government pledged that VAT on women’s sanitary products would be used to provide grant funding each year for women’s health and support charities.

However Rape Crisis and Women’s Aid were the only two organisations specifically serving women funded from the annual tampon tax disbursement, receiving just less than £3 million between them. Other groups funded included UK Community Foundations, Mind, Brook Young People and two housing associations.

The situation was repeated last month when £600,000 was awarded to celebrate the centenary year of women’s suffrage, with two of the eight organisations funded focussed solely on women’s needs.

Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of the Women’s Resource Centre, accused the government of being political in funding organisations.

She said: “The general charities don’t always have that strong analysis of structural inequalities, so I think it’s not surprising that the women’s sector has been sidelined and the mainstream organisations that say ‘we work with women’ have been given the money.”

Tracey Crouch, the minister for sport and civil society, said the money is being used to support vulnerable women.

She said: “The money generated from sanitary products is being invested in good causes that tackle the serious issues that women of all ages face. It will be used to support vulnerable women and girls and help build a Britain fit for the future.”

Writing in TFN, Ellie Hutchinson of the Empower Project, said that Scotttish groups are misssing out as organisations have to have a turnover opf more than £2 million - or less than £100,000 to apply.