What Every Employer Needs to Know about Menopause in 2026

On 4 March 2026, ahead of International Women’s Day, the Government published its Action Plan guidance for employers under the Employment Rights Act 2025.

From April 2026, employers with 250 or more staff will have the option to publish a voluntary Action Plan alongside their gender pay gap data. From spring 2027, subject to secondary legislation, this becomes mandatory and publicly visible to staff, recruits and stakeholders.

From spring 2027 all organisations with 250 or more employees will be legally required to produce and publish an action plan. Right now it’s voluntary but many organisations are choosing to getting ahead of it and use this as a trial run to smooth out any edges before its a legal requirement.

If you employ fewer than 250 people, the reporting requirement does not apply to you directly. But your legal obligations do not reduce with headcount. Every employer, regardless of size, has duties under UK legislation,  and where menopause symptoms are severe or long-lasting, reasonable adjustments become a legal duty, not a discretionary choice.

Whilst smaller organisations aren’t legally required to publish an action plan, those that want to attract new talent and ensure that their employees feel valued, will want to look at ways that they can be part of this process too.  As Action Plans become publicly visible across larger organisations, employee expectations around menopause support will shift across every sector.

Whether you have 25 employees or 2,500, if you lead on HR, people strategy or workplace equality, this requires your attention now.

What is a menopause action plan?

An action plan sets out the specific steps your organisation is taking to address your gender pay gap and support employees experiencing menopause. It is published alongside your gender pay gap data and is visible to the public,  including your current employees, your candidates and your stakeholders.

This is an opportunity to demonstrate genuine commitment to workplace gender equality.

Why this matters now

One in three women in the UK workforce is currently experiencing menopause or perimenopause. One in ten women who worked during the menopause left a job because of their symptoms.

Eight out of ten women aged 45 to 55 say their workplace does not offer basic menopause support. These are not junior employees. They are experienced professionals, often in senior, specialist or leadership roles.

The cost of losing them is considerable. And the cost of not acting is increasing.

What the new menopause legislation requires

Employers must publish Menopause Action plans on the gender pay gap service alongside your organisation’s gender pay gap data,  making them publicly visible to staff, recruits and stakeholders.

Additional guidance covering the steps employers should take when developing their action plan will be published in April 2026.

Our free guide walks you through what needs to be in place before that guidance lands.

What should a menopause employment action plan include? 

The Government’s recommended actions for supporting employees experiencing menopause cover six specific areas:

  • Review policies and procedures to meet the needs of employees experiencing menopause,  including flexible working, reasonable adjustments and leave provisions
  • Train managers to support employees experiencing menopause, covering symptoms, legal obligations and how to have supportive conversations
  • Offer workplace adjustments for employees experiencing menopause, including environmental, workload and scheduling considerations
  • Conduct a menopause risk assessment for your workplace
  • Offer occupational health advice for employees experiencing menopause
  • Set up menopause support groups and networks

Our free checklist helps you assess where your organisation currently stands across the policy, training, workplace adjustments and risk assessment areas. It is a starting point, honest and practical.

For a full gap analysis across all six areas, including occupational health provision and support networks, our HOTB Menopause Action Plan Standard programme (launching April 2026) takes you through every step.  Get in touch to find out more.

UK menopause action plan deadlines

Voluntary action plans can be published any time during the 2026 to 2027 reporting year: 30 March 2027  for most public authority employers and 4 April 2027,  private, voluntary and all other public authority employers.

The legal implications

Menopause in the workplace sits across three pieces of legislation.

The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from discrimination based on sex, age and disability. Where symptoms are severe or long-lasting, they may meet the threshold for disability, making reasonable adjustments a legal requirement. Tribunal awards are uncapped. This applies to every employer, regardless of size.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a duty on employers to protect the health and welfare of all staff, including assessing and managing workplace conditions that may worsen menopause symptoms. Again, there is no size threshold, this applies to all organisations.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 requires larger employers with 250 or more staff to publish Menopause Action Plans voluntarily from April 2026, mandatory from spring 2027. If you employ fewer than 250 people, publishing a plan is not a requirement. But the Equality Act and Health and Safety obligations remain fully in force. And as larger employers begin publishing their plans publicly, employee expectations around menopause support will shift across every sector, regardless of where you sit on headcount.

For the first time, what organisations are doing — or not doing — will be visible. That changes the conversation for everyone.

Legal risk most commonly arises where symptoms are dismissed, performance is managed without medical consideration, or reasonable adjustments are not explored. A clear menopause policy, documented manager training and consistent HR procedures are essential across all three frameworks.

What happens if you don’t act?

Organisations that do not act on menopause support face three compounding risks: legal exposure under the Equality Act, reputational risk as action plans become publicly visible and ongoing loss of experienced staff at a time when retention is already under pressure.

Only 24% of employees currently know of a formal menopause policy at their workplace. For most organisations, the gap between intention and demonstrable action is significant.

The employers who move now, before the mandatory deadline, will be better positioned on all three fronts.

Workplace menopause training 

The government’s own guidance when it comes to Menopause Action Plans, asks employers to consider how menopause intersects with other characteristics  including ethnicity, disability status and socioeconomic background. That’s exactly how we design our training. We recognise younger and surgical menopause, neurodivergent experiences, cultural differences and the people supporting someone through it, because a menopause strategy that only works for some of your workforce isn’t fully inclusive.

Head here to find out more about the menopause, hormone health & neurodiversity training that we can support your organisation with, tailored to your sector.

Get your menopause action plan guide here

The six steps to your menopause action plan

      Step 1 Understand the issues in your organisation

Before choosing any actions you need to understand where your organisation actually is. That means analysing your workforce data and engaging your employees to understand the real picture.

Look at every stage of the employee lifecycle, from recruitment through to exit interviews. Ask questions like: are women under-represented in senior roles? Do promotion rates differ between men and women? Are flexible working arrangements available at all levels?

Alongside the data, talk to your people. Interviews, focus groups and staff surveys all help you understand how employees are experiencing your workplace. This is especially important for understanding the menopause picture,  including the experiences of neurodivergent employees, those from different cultural backgrounds and those navigating related conditions like endometriosis, fibroids and PCOS.

Getting this step right makes everything that follows more effective.

Not sure where to start? This is exactly what the HOTB Action Plan Standard is designed for.

Step 2 Choose your actions

There are 18 government recommended actions to choose from. You must select a minimum of two, at least one addressing your gender pay gap and at least one supporting employees experiencing menopause.

Actions are categorised as either new or in progress,  something you are working on for the first time , or embedded,  something already established in your working practice. You must have at least two actions that are new or in progress.

The 18 actions cover: Recruiting Staff, Developing and promoting staff, Building diversity into your organisation, Increasing transparency and Supporting employees experiencing menopause. 

The government encourages organisations to go beyond the minimum of two actions and be creative in the support they offer, viewing this as an opportunity to make a real difference to their employees that often need it most.

Not sure which actions are right for your organisation? The HOTB Action Plan Standard helps you identify the most relevant actions for your specific workforce.

Step 3 Write your supporting narrative

For each new or in progress action you must add supporting text explaining why you chose it and how you will track whether it is working. You have up to 100 words per action.

You can also write an overall supporting narrative of up to 200 words covering your organisation’s broader objectives for gender equality.

This narrative is published publicly alongside your gender pay gap data. It is your opportunity to show the thinking behind your choices,  not just the actions themselves.

The government also encourages organisations to make this information available on their own website and link to it from the gender pay gap service.

Step 4 Submit your action plan

Submit your plan via the gender pay gap service. You can save and return to it before submitting.

Before you submit make sure you have chosen your actions, written your supporting narrative and identified a responsible person, usually a director, partner or senior officer, to approve the plan. The person submitting will need their own account on the gender pay gap service linked to your organisation.

Step 5 Track your outcomes

Meaningful action plans don’t stop once you have uploaded them.  Best practice looks like recording your baseline metrics before introducing each action and note how you’ll track progress over time. Choose metrics linked to your target outcomes so you can assess whether your actions are working.

Review progress at regular intervals, monthly or annually where possible,  using consistent analysis so you can compare results over time. Be mindful that some changes don’t show overnight, progress and impact can take time to appear.

Consider also whether a deeper evaluation is appropriate for your organisation. Evaluation goes beyond monitoring, it helps you understand not just whether an action is working but why.

Need support setting up monitoring and evaluation frameworks? The HOTB Action Plan Standard includes this as part of the process.

Step 6 review your plan

Once action plans become mandatory you will need to review and update yours every reporting year.  An interim progress review is required one year and two years after submitting your mandatory plan and a more detailed review of each individual action is required three years after submission.

The key to remember is that you must always be working on at least two actions. If an action moves from new or in progress to embedded,  or is removed,  you must add a new one to replace it.

Support for Employers: The Hormones on the Blink Action Plan Standard

The HOTB Action Plan Standard is a bespoke, end to end process that takes you through all six steps,  with our HR specialist partners Frank HR solutions  alongside you at every stage.

It is a thorough assessment of where your organisation actually is, followed by tailored support to get you where you need to be.

Phase 1 Review

Before we recommend anything we look at where you actually are.

A pulse survey gives us the lived experience picture from inside your organisation. A gap analysis tells us what your policies, procedures and risk assessments are doing well and where the next areas of focus should be.

Outcome: a concise Action Plan Review report with three to five priority recommendations.

Phase 2 Build

Using the findings from your review we co-create the documents and frameworks your organisation actually needs, things like a menopause policy, risk assessment templates, reasonable adjustments guidance and integration into your handbook, induction and manager guidance, all aligned to the government guidance.

Outcome: a complete Action Plan Pack, policy, risk template and comms plan.

Phase 3 Train & Embed

Based on what your review identifies we agree together what implementation looks like, drawing from options like manager training, staff awareness sessions, menopause champions, e-learning and a resource hub, alongside the people and culture changes your gender pay gap actions require.

Outcome: a live programme of training, resources and culture change built around your people and your priorities.

Complete all three phases and you receive your HOTB Action Plan Standard badge. 

Formal recognition that your organisation has done the work. Display it with confidence to staff, stakeholders and prospective employees. And as a recognised partner you’ll be listed on the HOTB website,  visible to the thousands of women and professionals in our community who are looking for employers that have done the work.

Because the organisations that will retain the best people in the next decade are the ones building this foundation now.

Staying on track

Once action plans become mandatory organisations will need to complete an interim progress review one and two years after submission and a more detailed review at three years.

We offer ongoing annual support to help you prepare for each review,  so that when the time comes you have the evidence to show your actions are working and your commitment is more than just a document.