The struggling women’s charity sector is suffering further damage as a result of the way funds raised from the tampon tax are being allocated, it has been claimed.

In an open letter to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, more than 100 women, including academics and representatives of women’s charities, have urged the government to ringfence cash raised from the unpopular levy to be donated to organisations dedicated to women.

After activists led a campaign against the 5% VAT on tampons and sanitary towels in 2015, the then chancellor, George Osborne, promised to use the revenue “to fund women’s health and support charities”.

Out of the 10 charities chosen to benefit last year, only two were specialist women’s organisations and this year there was only one.

The letter, coordinated by the Women’s Resource Centre (WRC), a national umbrella group for the women’s sector, says: “We are concerned that even when women’s charities have led bids, or applied in consortia-type arrangements, it is larger generic organisations that have been granted the funding.

“We are very concerned that the success of some of these bids will cause further damage to the fragile women’s charity sector by drawing investment to generic providers.”

The majority of funding has gone to organisations that are not wholly dedicated to women but are running specific projects aimed at their welfare. Beneficiaries have included Mind and Crisis UK.

The sole women’s charity to receive tampon tax cash this year was Southall Black Sisters but that did not stop its director, Pragna Patel, putting her name to the letter. Other signatories include Donna Covey, chief executive of AVA (Against Violence and Abuse) and Catherine Donovan, professor of sociology at Durham University.

Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of WRC said: “It seems that the government thinks that large charities are the best option which is actually completely incorrect.

“Research shows that the women who need support services consistently say they want to go to all women’s organisations who understand their needs and look like them.

“We do things differently and we do things better but the sector is not getting the money, either from central government or local authorities.”

Hayes said the government’s stance on the tampon tax was in keeping with policies which have seen women bearing 86% of the burden of austerity, the lack of progress on the gender pay gap, rising levels of domestic and sexual violence, and women’s over-representation in low-paid work and as unpaid carers. Last year, the Guardian revealed that council funding for women’s refuges had been cut by almost £7m since 2010.

The signatories of the letter claim that the criteria for tampon tax funding restricts the eligibility of smaller women’s charities. In 2018 and 2019 there was a requirement for a minimum bid of £1m over two years and for cross-regional partnership bids, they say.

The letter states that women’s charities are “often grassroots, locally embedded and relatively small in size compared to larger generic charities that do not have a core focus or specialism in services for women. Due to the fund criteria, there are a very small number of women’s charities in a position to bid alone.”

It bemoans a “gravely disappointing” failure to support women’s charities.

In 2017, there was controversy when the government awarded £250,000 raised from the Tampon tax to the anti-abortion organisation Life.

Responding to the letter, the DCMS did not address the concerns relating to the women’s charitable sector,

A spokeswoman said: “Every project that receives tampon tax funding must benefit women and girls. Funding is allocated to reach projects across the UK.”