It has been an incredible year for making sure menopause support is top of the agenda and women feel supported in the workplace.

We now have 2,000 organisations signed up to our Menopause Workplace Pledge, raising awareness and transforming support offered to millions of employees across the country.

Over the past year, some of the country’s largest employers, including the BBC, NHS England, AstraZeneca and Royal Mail have signed the pledge, as well as many schools, universities, hospitals and smaller businesses.

Let’s look back on some of the year’s biggest achievements, made possible with these progressive organisations and our community of supporters…

The Civil Service signed the pledge, sending a powerful message that senior ministers and civil servants are making menopause support a priority. 260,000 women work in the Civil Service, making up more than half the organisation.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle signed the pledge on behalf of The House of Commons. The signing was attended by our supporters, TV presenters and MPs, including Mariella Frostrup, Penny Lancaster, Lisa Snowdon and Carolyn Harris MP.

The Menopause Workplace Pledge has been cited in the Women’s Health Strategy for England, which sets out a range of commitments to improve women’s health, including in the workplace, over the next 10 years. And our campaign is featured as an example of best practice in a government report on menopause support in the workplace.

As part of its commitments when signing the pledge, the country’s largest employer, NHS England, published new guidance on supporting staff going through the menopause – it employs over 1.2 million staff, 75% of which are women.

Building on the success of the Menopause Workplace Pledge, the Department of Health has awarded us with a major grant to provide small to medium-sized businesses in the Bedfordshire area with the training and tools needed to make sure even more women can access menopause support.

We hosted a webinar with our Chair Professor Dame Lesley Regan, menopause expert Dr Naomi Potter and founder of Latte Lounge Katie Taylor for Menopause Awareness Month. You can catch up on the valuable insights shared by our experts on our YouTube channel.

Our new menopause campaign Let’s #ChatMenopause continues to open up conversations around menopause and break down stigma. Celebrities including Lisa Snowdon and Penny Lancaster, and colleagues from the retailer Tesco and women from the Armed Forces, shared their stories in videos.

Our researcher Dr Claire Hardy has been making good progress with her menopause project, which is developing an evidence-based, online toolkit for organisations about the menopause. Dr Hardy and her team have been refining the toolkit and are getting ready to test it in 10 organisations in the new year.

The Menopause Workplace Pledge has been leading the conversation and media headlines, and has been featured in The Times, BBC News, the Telegraph, the Daily Express, Daily Mail, Sky News, and most news outlets.

Our campaign was also a finalist in the ‘Big Impact’ category of the Third Sector Awards 2022.