Thames Valley Police officially recognised as menopause friendly employer
Thames Valley Police (TVP) has become the UK’s first Menopause Friendly Police Force, independently accredited by Menopause Friendly.
TVP has a workforce made up of 47.9 per cent women (including staff and police officers), and with policing as a career becoming more attractive for women, in the past 12 months alone women have accounted for almost 50 per cent of new officer recruits.
Within a growing female workforce and a heightened national conversation around menopause, the force recognised a need to improve support.
As a result, TVP’s internal Menopause Action Group (MAG) was launched on World Menopause Day in 2021, with the aim of:
■ Raising awareness, not only for those directly affected by menopause/perimenopause but also for line managers/supervisors and colleagues to improve knowledge, understanding and empathy
■ Improving support in the form of shared experience and advice, including access to trained menopause buddies
■ Providing training to all staff, line managers and senior management teams around the impact of menopause and how it can adversely impact both those directly and indirectly affected in a wide variety of ways
Since the launch of the group, led by menopause project lead, Detective Inspector Natalie Beresford, and Detective Superintendent Kelly Gardner, strategic lead, the force has driven changes in areas such as:
■ Policies and practices: such as reasonable adjustments, sickness recording, and occupational health referrals, allowing supportive adjustments in relation to managing menopause symptoms in the workplace, and transparency around menopause-related conversations
■ Uniform: allowing some permitted changes that improve the comfort of people impacted by menopause
■ Buddy scheme: a support network of 50 individuals who have all been trained to provide help and support to individuals affected by menopause
■ Training: bringing workshops and creating dedicated colleague and manager information packs aimed at supporting people in the workplace through menopause.
Currently, TVP has 18 MAG members driving forward policies, with Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) and South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) being highly involved and supporting these improvements since the launch of the group.
Chief Constable John Campbell QPM said: “In Thames Valley Police, as an organisation striving to be a workplace where everyone can flourish, we are committed to raising awareness, increasing support and investing in training for the workforce about the impact of the menopause.
“We are extremely proud of becoming the first UK police force to be granted this accreditation. It is testament to the hard work and focus that has gone into enhancing our practices and procedures.”
Evelyn Dickey, Menopause Friendly accreditation independent panel member said: “Congratulations to the team at Thames Valley Police who demonstrated brilliant work across a wide-range of areas and have achieved a lot in a relatively short time.
“Really innovative work and also clearly working beyond their workplace to encourage other parts of the community to better understand the menopause.
“Well done to the team.”
DI Natalie Beresford, Menopause Action Group lead, said: “The accreditation is recognition of the hard work we’ve put into it in such a short period of time, all of us coming together to push this important project forward.
“The aim of MAG isn’t just to reach out only to the women in our organisation, we’re focused on everyone, educating men, partners, supervisors and managers about the menopause and raising awareness about it.
”We want to make sure that the menopause is no longer a taboo, but something that is talked about openly, and we will continue to do so to best of our abilities.”