Menstrual cups to become cheaper to purchase from next year

There was good news for period-havers in yesterday’s Budget!

It has been announced by the government that menstrual cups will be cheaper to purchase from next year.

Menstrual cups are currently on a 9% VAT rate, but starting from January, that rate will be significantly reduced to 0%.

This change in VAT rate will also apply to other variations of the product, such as moon cups, period pants and menstrual sponges.

The move has been praised by many, as it means that all period products are under a zero-VAT rate, which is hopefully one step closer towards an end to so-called ‘period poverty’. This term refers to women who are forced to suffer through their menstrual cycle each month, as they are unable to afford to purchase period products.

The government abolished the so-called ‘tampon tax’ in recent years, meaning that products such as period pads, tampons, maternity pads and panty liners are under a 0% VAT rate.

Activists have been praising this new move in this year’s Budget, as they have been calling for menstrual cups to be added to the 0% VAT rate for over a year now.

In February of 2021, a report was published by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, outlining how all period products needed to be available under the zero-VAT rate.

“No woman, girl, intersex, trans or non-binary person who menstruates, should have to exclude themselves from the activities of daily living during menstruation or suffer the physical and mental health impacts resulting from both recurrent exclusion and the use of unsuitable period products,” noted Minister O’Gorman at the time.

Consumers will now be able to purchase these period products at a cheaper rate from January 2023. Hooray!