Since its launch in January 2020, 41 per cent of primary schools (children can start menstruating as young as nine-years-old) and 76 per cent of secondary schools have made applications under the initiative.
The total value of the orders made so far is £2.8m, roughly half of the funding put up by the government for the scheme.
The scheme has been extended due to the coronavirus pandemic and schools will be able to make applications “at least throughout 2021”.
Period poverty is the term used to describe the inability to afford or access sanitary products.
The issue was brought to national attention three years ago by student Amika George and her #freeperiods campaign, which highlighted the fact that more than 137,000 UK children have missed school because of period poverty.
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