It continues: “It is therefore gravely disappointing to us that a fund established specifically for women’s charities is failing quite significantly to deliver on that promise. We urge you to address this as a matter of urgency by ringfencing this fund for women’s charities.”

This year’s beneficiaries of the Tampon Tax Fund were announced at the end of March. Crucially, the money is still being donated to charities running important projects for women, even though it has not been allocated to specialist women’s organisations. The homelessness charity Crisis UK, for example, has been given over £1.1m to help homeless women who have survived modern slavery rebuild their lives. The Scottish organisation Sacro received the same amount to provide support and advice to sex workers.

These important projects are obviously deserving of funding and support. However, the signatories of the open letter say they are concerned that “larger generic organisations” are being granted funding over smaller, grassroots charities that dedicate all their work to women’s issues.

Why are hardly any women’s charities being supported by the tampon tax?