{"id":55112,"date":"2024-04-18T05:16:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T04:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/?p=55112"},"modified":"2024-04-17T19:21:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T18:21:57","slug":"big-debate-should-bras-be-exempt-from-vat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/2024\/04\/18\/big-debate-should-bras-be-exempt-from-vat\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Debate – should bras be exempt from VAT?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The whole debate was given impetus by the motion (which was carried) of delegates of the Society of Radiographer at their annual conference (being held from 16-18 April). The delegates call on the Treasury to axe the tax, claiming it disportionately affects women and could be considered discriminatory under the Equality Act.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55117\" style=\"width: 766px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55117\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55117\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?resize=756%2C1842&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"756\" height=\"1842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?w=756&ssl=1 756w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?resize=350%2C853&ssl=1 350w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?resize=170%2C414&ssl=1 170w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?resize=630%2C1536&ssl=1 630w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?resize=585%2C1425&ssl=1 585w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-55117\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Panache Sport (specialists in larger cup sizing)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>According to the motion, presented to delegates on Tuesday 16 April, the removal of the \u201ctampon tax\u201d in January 2021 is an example of one such situation where VAT was removed from products related to women\u2019s physical health.<\/p>\n<p>Increased bra costs discourage women from buying well-fitted bras, they added, and poor-fitting bras can cause physical pain.\u00a0Diagnostic Radiographers carry out X-rays, MRI and CT scans, which can be used to identify the musculoskeletal problems caused by poorly fitted bras. \u00a0\u00a0The delegates added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>While there may not be any health conditions related to wearing a bra, there could be some musculoskeletal (MSK) ones, particularly if you wear a larger cup size.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>Those who are wearing a bra size D or above often get backaches, aching shoulders and neck pain, because of the weight of their breasts. Wearing a good-quality, well-fitted bra could alleviate some of these issues, and reduce time off sick for MSK issues.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">The NHS website already states women who suffer from breast pain should ‘wear a properly fitted bra during the day and a soft bra to sleep in’.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">And the Chartered Society for Physiotherapy advises women:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">Wearing the correct size bra will mean you will look great, be well supported and ward off unnecessary discomfort. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">It is important to check your bra size annually and make changes if necessary. “<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">Delegates at the SoR conference likened bras to menstrual products as a necessity, which should therefore not be subject to VAT.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">In January, VAT on period pants was dropped following a two-year campaign by brands, retailers, women’s groups and environmentalists dating back to 2021, when the so-called ‘tampon tax’ was dropped from other period products such as pads, tampons and menstrual cups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 12.0pt 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; letter-spacing: -.1pt;\">Women who have had breast cancer surgery – whether a mastectomy, partial mastectomy or lumpectomy – are exempt from VAT when buying certain bras.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Our very own Julie Blanche, owner of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebraconsultancy.com\">The Bra Consultancy,<\/a> appeared on GB News with Isabel and Eamon just yesterday to talk about the motion for exemption from VAT on bra sales. You can see the full interview <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thebraconsultancy\/videos\/1109978840329118\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Editor of Underlines Magazine would love to hear your views, please email Pamela on pamunderlines@aol.com.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The whole debate was given impetus by the motion (which was carried) of delegates of the Society of Radiographer at their annual conference (being held from 16-18 April). The delegates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13879],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sport.jpg?fit=756%2C1842&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55118,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55112\/revisions\/55118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underlinesmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}