Why mental wellbeing support should be a fundamental component of life-stage benefits

Support for menopause, fertility and parenthood usually starts at an event, such as a diagnosis, a funded cycle, or a period of leave but the mental health effects can begin long before.

The mental health effects of life stages, such as menopause, fertility and parenthood, begin before the event and continue long after it. Support that starts and stops with the event covers only a small part of the experience.

What the evidence shows

Mental health problems are common at every one of these life stages. They start before the event, continue after it, and are rarely reported to the employer.

They start before treatment does: A survey by Fertility Network UK found that almost half (47%) felt depressed often or all the time, and four in ten had experienced suicidal feelings, according to the Fawcett Society report Menopause and the Workplace, 2022.
They affect careers: In the same survey, more than a third (36%) felt fertility treatment had damaged their career.
They continue after the event: Approximately one in four women in England experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or the first year after birth, according to Mental Health During and After Pregnancy, 2026. For many, that first year is also the year they return to work.
They affect fathers too: Postnatal depression is thought to affect as many as one in ten, according to Tommy’s.
They last for years: Among women who have experienced menopause, 69% said anxiety or depression was a difficult symptom, and one in ten who worked during menopause left a job because of their symptoms, according to the Fawcett Society report Menopause and the Workplace, 2022.
They stay hidden: Of the women who took time off during menopause, only 30% told their employer the real reason.

The hidden financial cost

Money adds to the strain on mental health, and most of it is spent before any benefit applies. The worry is almost universal, and it affects wellbeing directly. Add in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, and the issue compounds – and employees bring this mental load to work with them every day.

How to design support:

Treat emotional and financial support as core, not add-on. Counselling, financial guidance, and manager training belong in every life-stage pathway from the start. Counselling should not require a diagnosis or referral.
Design for the arc. Support and education should start before the event and continue after it. That means the months of trying before a referral, the return from leave, and the years of perimenopause. It also means pregnancy loss, which most benefit designs skip entirely. Settling back in takes longer than any leave or treatment window.
Build for the person the policy was not written for. Test each policy against the non-birthing parent, the solo parent, the male colleague going through fertility treatment, and the employee managing two of these at once. If any of them would fall between two policies, the design is incomplete.

How to plan for 2027

Mental health support is usually added to life-stage benefits after they are designed, if at all. It should be part of the design from the start, alongside clinical and financial support. The evidence is clear on why.

Mental health problems begin before treatment, leave, or diagnosis, and they continue after those have ended.

Equality action plans covering menopause are expected to become mandatory for larger employers in England, Scotland, and Wales from spring 2027, subject to secondary legislation. Employers writing those plans now have the chance to build in mental health support from the beginning.