'Menopause leave' trial rejected by ministers

Ministers person rejected a connection from MPs to present "menopause leave" pilots successful England, arguing it could beryllium "counterproductive".

It besides dismissed a proposal to marque menopause a protected diagnostic nether the Equality Act.

The suggestions came from the Women and Equalities Committee, which accused ministers of making "glacial progress" connected menopause support.

The authorities insisted it had an "ambitious" program to amended help.

In July 2022, the committee published a study which warned that the interaction of menopause was causing the UK system to "haemorrhage talent".

It said a deficiency of enactment was pushing women retired of enactment and made 12 recommendations aimed astatine giving moving women much rights.

However, successful its effect to the report, published connected Tuesday, the authorities rejected outright 5 of the committee's proposals, including a proposal for the authorities to enactment with a ample nationalist assemblage leader to "develop and aviator a circumstantial menopause permission policy".

In its report, the cross-party radical of MPs argued this could halt women being "forced retired of enactment by insensitive and rigid sickness policies".

The authorities said it was focused connected encouraging employers to instrumentality workplace menopause policies, adding: "We are acrophobic that circumstantial menopause permission whitethorn beryllium counterproductive to achieving this goal."

It besides said it would not motorboat a consultation connected amending the Equality Act to present a caller protected diagnostic of menopause "including a work to supply tenable adjustments for menopausal employees".

The authorities expressed interest that specified a determination could person "unintended consequences which whitethorn inadvertently make caller forms of discrimination, for example, favoritism risks towards men suffering from from agelong word aesculapian conditions oregon eroding existing protections."

Ministers accepted "in principle" the committee's recommendations to motorboat a nationalist wellness run astir menopause and to name a menopause ambassador to show advancement made by businesses successful this area.

However, the Conservative seat of the committee Caroline Nokes condemned the government's wide effect arsenic "a missed accidental to support immense numbers of talented and experienced women from leaving the workforce, and leaves maine unconvinced that menopause is simply a authorities priority.

"For excessively agelong women person faced stigma, shame and dismissive attitudes erstwhile it comes to menopause.

"The grounds to our enquiry was crystal wide that urgent enactment was needed crossed healthcare and enactment settings to decently code women's needs, yet authorities advancement has been glacial and its effect complacent."

A authorities spokesperson rejected accusations of complacency arguing it had "put women's wellness astatine the apical of the docket arsenic portion of the first-ever women's wellness strategy for England".

"We are implementing an ambitious programme of enactment with the NHS to amended menopause attraction truthful each women tin entree the enactment they need."