Menopause Action Plans: From obligation to opportunity

Menopause Action Plans: From obligation to opportunity

Ann O’Neill, CEO and Co-founder, Adora Digital Health:

Something significant shifted in April 2026. Employers with 250 or more employees can now voluntarily publish a Menopause Action Plan under the Employment Rights Act 2025 – and from April 2027, it becomes mandatory.

For those of us working in employee wellbeing, this should feel like a long-overdue moment of recognition. For employers, it is also a moment of real legal consequence.

The stakes are higher than many HR teams yet realise. The same legislation reduces the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from two years to just six months, effective January 2027, and removes the cap on compensation entirely. Menopause-related performance management or absence handling that falls short of the standard – already capable of engaging protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 – could now carry dramatically greater financial and reputational exposure.

But I want to focus on the opportunity, not just the obligation. The guidance asks employers to take meaningful action across six areas: manager training, peer support networks, workplace adjustments, risk assessments, policy review, and access to occupational health. Employers must demonstrate progress on at least one. The Government has made clear it wants to see lasting change, not tick-box compliance – and will publish a list of organisations that fail to submit.

What does meaningful action actually look like? In my experience, it starts with women feeling seen. Many are quietly managing severe symptoms — disrupted sleep, brain fog, anxiety, joint pain — while trying to maintain performance and presence at work. They are often unsure whether what they are experiencing is menopause, whether to disclose it, or where to turn. The pathway to support is frequently unclear and slow.

Employers who invest in changing that experience — through education, clinical access, and a culture where women’s health is spoken about openly — will not only meet their legal obligations. They will retain experienced female talent at a critical career stage, and signal to their wider workforce that they take inclusion seriously.

The menopause action plan is not a policy exercise. It is a chance to do something that genuinely matters.

Ann O’Neill is CEO and co-founder of Adora Digital Health, a clinically led digital platform supporting women with their menstrual health through perimenopause and menopause. Adora provides personalised assessments, symptom tracking, expert-led webinars, clinical drop-ins, specialist consultations, and manager education tools designed to help employers build credible, compliant menopause action plans.