Employers unprepared for menopause duties, research suggests

Just under a third (29 per cent) of 276 HR, health and safety and compliance professionals surveyed by e-learning provider, VinciWorks have committed to publishing a menopause action plan in their organisations in 2026 or 2027. Most remain uncertain or unprepared.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 (formerly Bill) mandates that employers with more than 250 staff must create and publish Menopause Action Plans to improve workplace support. 

These plans, detailing steps to support menopausal staff and reduce gender pay gaps, become voluntary in April 2026 and mandatory in 2027.

Photograph: iStock

A large amount of guidance has been created for employers on how menopause symptoms can have a significant impact on women at work and what reasonable adjustments can make a difference.

These include from the UK’s independent regulator for equality and human rights, the EHRC, ACAS, NHS Employers and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.  

“Employers should carefully consider [our] guidance and adapt their policies and practices accordingly, to ensure fairness and inclusivity in the workplace,” says the EHRC. 

Sara Henna Dahan, compliance manager at VinciWorks, said: “Menopause action plans are a really important step in building trust that women can see their future with an employer. Menopause and peri-menopause can affect women from their thirties onwards, and knowing what support could be available, and the attitude of the employer towards menopause, should be basic.” 

In 2022 the Fawcett Society found that one in ten women who have worked during the menopause have left a job due to their symptoms. 

While research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 2023 found that two thirds of working women between the ages of 40 and 60 with experience of menopausal symptoms said they have had a mostly negative impact on them at work.