Half of the UK population is facing £500 in extra costs for essential items, and many people have had to cut back on food and other essentials to afford the cost. Two in five people responding to a survey admitted they’d had to cut back on essentials like food, bills or transport to pay for period products. New consumer research by Clue, dubbed the Cost of Bleeding, highlighted the financial burden women face due to their biology.
The average woman across the UK will spend around £20,359 on menstruation products and side effects throughout her lifetime. Respondents spend around £41 every month on costs related to their cycle, roughly £492 every year. Monthly costs include period products (£18), pain relief, cleaning, replacement clothing, and the effect of periods on workplace productivity.
Over the course of a year, women spent £142 on symptom relief items like painkillers and hot water bottles. Nearly a third of respondents faced extra costs for private healthcare to manage conditions related to their menstrual cycle like PCOS or endometriosis. The growing crisis has left millions struggling, with nearly 40% forced to use alternatives like tissues or wipes instead of pads due to the cost.
A 2023 ActionAid poll found the number of women in the UK struggling to afford period products had risen from 12% to 21% in just one year. 8 million people struggling to afford the costs of their biology each month. Period products are already free in Scotland.
In England, provisions are partially provided through the government’s period product scheme that is available to state-maintained and funded schools. The Clue report showed women are vastly in favour of having free and widely accessible period products in UK schools, universities and workplaces. The government is being urged to act now, with calls to expand free access to period products to England.