Menopause in the Workplace | What Employers Need to Know
Action plans, policy templates, manager training and reasonable adjustments — practical menopause guidance for North West employers, updated for the Employment Rights Act 2025.
CIPD Qualified
ERA 2025 Updated
North West Based
Free ConsultationMenopause in the workplace is now a compliance issue, not a wellbeing extra. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, employers with 250 or more employees can publish menopause action plans voluntarily from April 2026, and publication is expected to become mandatory from spring 2027. Smaller employers are not off the hook either: menopause-related tribunal claims tripled between 2022 and 2024. This hub gives North West employers the lot — templates, training, adjustments and the deadlines that matter.
Facing a menopause-related grievance or absence right now? Book a free consultation with DaisyHR.
Menopause Guides for Employers
Menopause at Work: The Complete Employer Guide
Every legal duty, tribunal risk and practical step in one master guide.
Read Full Guide+ 3 more guides
Menopause Action Plan Template
A ready-to-adapt action plan that meets the government framework before the 2027 deadline.
Menopause Policy Template
A plain-English menopause policy you can put in your handbook this week.
Menopause Employer Obligations 2027
Exactly what becomes mandatory, when, and for whom under ERA 2025.
Menopause Training for Managers
What your managers need to know before one of them gets a conversation badly wrong.
Reasonable Adjustments for Menopause
The adjustments tribunals expect to see, and how to document them.
UK Menopause at Work Statistics 2026
The verified UK numbers: claims, costs, and who is leaving work.
Menopause Cost Calculator
Estimate what menopause-related absence and turnover is costing your business.
The her. pause workplace kit
Exclusively through DaisyHR. Policies set the rules — the kit delivers relief your team can feel.
Six evidence-informed essentials — handheld or neck fan, cool mist, dry mouth spray, cooling wipes, pulse roller and cooling patches — in a premium pouch that looks like it belongs on a desk. Discreet by design, because no one should have to announce their symptoms to get relief.
Handheld or neck fan
Instant cooling during hot flushes
Cool mist spray
Refreshing facial mist for discreet relief
Dry mouth spray
Hormonal dry mouth is often overlooked
Cooling wipes
Quick cooldown between meetings
Pulse roller
Targets tension headaches and brain fog
Cooling patches
Long-lasting, hidden under clothing
Per kit, ex VAT. Minimum order 5 kits. Price increases to £49 on 1 August 2026.
Every item earns its place: built for hot flushes, brain fog, poor sleep, headaches, dry mouth and dry eyes.
Menopause Action Plans: The Clock Is Already Running
From April 2026, employers with 250 or more employees can publish a menopause action plan on the government's reporting portal. From spring 2027, publication is expected to become mandatory, with a snapshot date of 5 April 2027 — the secondary legislation is still to come, but the government has already published the framework and 18 recommended actions. If you employ fewer than 250 people you have no publication duty. Tribunal risk does not check your headcount, though: menopause-related claims tripled in two years, and they run through sex, age and disability discrimination — laws that apply from employee number one.
Book a consultation to discuss your readinessMenopause at Work: The Timeline
The Employment Rights Act 2025 becomes law.
Government publishes menopause action plan guidance and the 18 recommended actions framework.
Voluntary publication opens for employers with 250 or more employees, via the existing gender pay gap portal.
Expected snapshot date for the first mandatory reporting year.
Publication expected to become mandatory for 250+ employers (secondary legislation pending).
Dates for the mandatory phase depend on secondary legislation. We track it so North West employers do not have to — this page is reviewed monthly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not yet. From April 2026, employers with 250 or more employees can publish one voluntarily on the government portal. Publication is expected to become mandatory from spring 2027, subject to secondary legislation. If you employ fewer than 250 people, there is no publication duty — but the discrimination risk below still applies.
You can ignore the publication duty. You cannot ignore the Equality Act 2010, which applies from your first employee. Menopause-related tribunal claims rose from 64 in 2022 to 204 in 2024, with payouts frequently exceeding £60,000. A policy, manager training and documented adjustments are cheap insurance by comparison.
No — and that catches employers out. Claims succeed through sex, age and disability discrimination instead. Where symptoms have a substantial, long-term effect on day-to-day activities, menopause can amount to a disability, which triggers the duty to make reasonable adjustments.
At least one action from the government’s menopause category, drawn from a published framework of 18 evidence-informed recommended actions, submitted through the same portal as gender pay gap reporting. The government encourages employers to go beyond the minimum. Our action plan template covers the framework in full.
Yes, and increasingly they do — 204 claims in 2024, triple the 2022 figure. Claims run through discrimination, harassment and constructive or unfair dismissal. What tribunals look at is simple: did you know about the symptoms, and what did you do once you knew.
Get Menopause at Work Advice From a North West HR Consultant
Book a free 30-minute consultation with a CIPD-qualified consultant. We will tell you exactly what the 2026 and 2027 changes mean for your business, what needs doing now and what does not. No charge. No obligation.
Serving employers in Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Wigan, Warrington, Bury, Rochdale, Preston, Lancaster and Chester. · Last reviewed: July 2026
Written by Samantha Boyle MCIPD, Fractional HR Director, Bolton & North West.