Autumn Budget 2025 – Why Women’s Health Must Be an HR Priority

Women’s health support in the workplace is becoming increasingly important following the autumn Budget, as HR teams face tighter resources while women across all roles continue to experience health challenges that directly affect attendance, productivity and retention. Here is practical guide for protecting retention, fairness and productivity — from shop floor to boardroom. 

The 26 November 2025 Budget landed with a message that every HR team already feels: budgets are tight, and next year will require careful choices. 

But while organisations prepare to control spending, women across the workforce — whether in retail, care, logistics, offices or leadership roles — continue to face real health challenges that directly affect work. 

Below, we break down what HR needs to know, why women’s health should stay high on the agenda, and how to make a strong, budget-ready case for the coming year. 

1. Policies Matter — But People Come First

Instead of thinking in policy terms, think about the people involved: 

• A retail worker on a shift, trying to manage hot flushes under bright lights with no private space to cool down. 

• A senior manager, navigating perimenopause while leading teams through year-end deadlines. 

• A frontline carer, exhausted from disrupted sleep due to hormonal symptoms. 

• A team leader in early pregnancy, quietly dealing with nausea during long meetings. 

• A colleague undergoing fertility treatment, balancing injections and appointments with December workloads. 

These aren’t unusual cases and they affect everything from attendance and concentration to confidence, progression and long-term retention. 

Budget or no budget, these women still need support. 

2. Health Equity – From Shop Floor to Boardroom 

Women’s health impacts every level of an organisation. But the ability to get support doesn’t always match the need. 

Consider the difference: 

• A senior leader may be able to work flexibly, leave early, or adjust her diary. 

• A shop-floor worker may have none of that — no flexibility, no private space, no choice in workload. 

That gap is a health equity issue — and it’s becoming increasingly visible. The Government has already announced a renewal of the Women’s Health Strategy to tackle these inequalities. 

Workplaces have a major role to play in closing these gaps. 

4. How to Make a Strong Business Case for Women’s Health 

When you’re speaking to Finance or Exec teams, frame women’s health support in the workplace in business terms, not wellbeing terms. 

These phrases will land well: 

• Avoided turnover cost 

• Retention protection 

• Workforce risk exposure 

• Business continuity from experienced staff 

• Productivity stabilisation 

• Health equity reduces operational disruption 

5. A Simple Framework for Your Business Case 

A. Start with your data 

A quick look at: 

• How many women are aged 40–55 

• Unplanned absence linked to women’s health 

• Turnover patterns in this group 

• Feedback from exit interviews 

You only need broad trends to make the point. 

B. Use reliable cost benchmarks 

Replacing a mid-career woman costs £30,000–£50,000 (HR DocBox). 

Avoiding even one departure often covers an entire year of women’s health support. 

C. Reference trusted ROI evidence 

For every £1 spent on wellbeing, organisations see £4.70 in returns (Deloitte). 

Savings come from: 

• fewer absences 

• better productivity 

• reduced manager load 

• improved retention 

D. Tie it to business priorities 

Women’s health support delivers against: 

• workforce stability 

• DEI commitments 

• leadership pipeline 

• fairness across roles 

• operational consistency (especially in shift-heavy sectors) 

This is what Exec teams care about. 

6. Your 5-Minute HR Audit 

A quick assessment HR teams can run today to spot your women’s health support gaps: 

Women 

• How many women in your workforce fall into higher-need age brackets (35–55)? 

• What percentage work shifts, frontline or deskless roles? 

Managers 

• How often do managers check on their team’s wellbeing? 

• How confident are managers in supporting women’s health in the workplace? 

• Do they have guidance? 

Data 

• What does absence data show? 

• Are you losing mid-career women? 

Support 

• Do employees have confidential, 24/7 access to advice? 

• Are women’s health policies accessible and clear? 

If more than one of these areas feels unclear, you likely have a retention risk. 

7. What HR Should Do Next 

Before Christmas 

• Review absence data 

• Share simple manager guidance 

• Make policies visible again – download a free menopause policy template here.

January (Wellbeing Month) 

• Refresh communications around women’s health 

• Re-share manager tools and scripts 

• Launch or relaunch digital support options 

• Ask for feedback 

Q1 2026 

• Build your women’s health business case 

• Prepare for 2026 menopause planning and wider regulatory shifts 

• Strengthen DEI actions around health equity 

Small steps now will pay off throughout 2026. 

Final Thoughts 

This year’s Budget asks organisations to be careful with spending, but it doesn’t reduce the responsibility to support the people who keep businesses running. 

Women’s health support in the workplace is one of the clearest areas where HR can: 

• prevent unnecessary turnover 

• improve fairness across roles 

• strengthen productivity 

• and support long-term workforce health 

From shop floor to boardroom, women are central to workforce strength. 

Supporting their health is not just doing the right thing — it’s building a more stable, resilient organisation for the year ahead. 

If you’d like support shaping your women’s health support in the workplace plan for 2026, Anya can help.