Free period product scheme 'clearly not efficient'

Coop CEO Mark Cox says the new free product system is "not working"

The government's free period product scheme has come under fire from a supermarket boss who said the current system was "clearly not efficient" and "not working".

Channel Islands Co-operative Society CEO Mark Cox said the company could help the government improve its scheme.

A range of locations, including public toilets and government buildings, across Jersey provide free sanitary products as part of the scheme.

In exchange for the free provisions, the government reversed its decision to remove a 5% goods and services tax (GST) on sanitary products in Jersey.

Mr Cox said he believed there was a "supply and demand issue".

"What we're seeing a lot on social media is a lot of disappointment from people that are searching out the products and not being able to find it," he said.

"I think with some corrections we can try and help and see if we can make the scheme work a little bit more efficiently for people.

"We're used to managing stock and making sure that it's available for customers and those that require it, so there might be something that we can do."

Mr Cox said Coop could help with the government's "supply and demand" issue

Mr Cox said the government going back on its decision to not tax sanitary products was "really unfair".

"For others that choose to buy their sanitary products, to tax it we think is really unfair and government having gone back on their decision to take GST off it, we think that's disappointing, " he said.

"We think that there is room for both schemes, a GST-free [scheme] as well as being able to offer free period products to those that are most in need."

A proposition to remove GST on sanitary products was approved by the States in April 2022.

However in August, Jersey's chief minister Kristina Moore said GST no longer needed to be removed due to free products being available at locations arounf the island.

At that time, Deputy Elaine Millar, the social security minister, said retailers would "probably say" that the cost and "extra admin work" would outweigh the benefits of removing a GST.

'Not satisfactory'

Responding to Mr Cox's comments, Ms Millar thanked him for "sharing his views on period products", and confirmed the government and Coop were "now working together to further fight the issue of period poverty and best serve islanders who need access to these products".

She said: "The dispensers we have at the moment are not satisfactory... it's a continuous process of trying to refine and improve and make the scheme better, but it is clearly meeting a need because people are taking the products and that's why the boxes are being emptied.

"Maybe the demand is bigger than we had anticipated, but we are trying to fulfil that need, which is what the government committed to do."