A Liverpool organisation has promised to help transform women's working lives after it was awarded almost £190,000.
The Women's Organisation was given £187,138 which it will use to help roll out a health support package targeting small and medium enterprise employers in England. The Women’s Organisation is one of four Northwest organisations to receive money from the Health and Wellbeing Fund (HWF)
The four organisations will receive a combined total of almost £593,000 from the government to support women experiencing reproductive health issues in the workplace. This is part of delivering on the first ever Women’s Health Strategy for England.
Launched in April 2018, the HWF is jointly run by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency, with funding usually for three years. The theme of the fund for 2022 to 2025 is women’s reproductive wellbeing in the workplace.
Maggie O’Carroll, chief executive of the Women’s Organisation, said: “Working with women and employers will offer huge opportunities to positively transform women’s working lives. It will help employers to put in place the right type of support at the right time. This will help attract and retain more women in the workplace and measurably improve their wellbeing.
“We are pleased that the Dept of Health and Social Care via the Health and Wellbeing Fund is providing this crucial initial investment to develop and deliver this innovative initiative, that will contribute to the successful delivery of the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy.”
The Women’s Organisation is the largest developer and deliverer of women’s training and support in the UK.
Its proposed scheme, Workplace Wellness of Women (WWOW), aims to utilise the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy, academic research on women’s health, and small and medium business employment evidence including business productivity, health and wellbeing, and staff development, to devise and roll out a social model of health support package targeting small and medium business employers in England.
It also hopes to support women experiencing menopause, fertility problems, miscarriage and more to remain in and return to the workplace. Also increasing accessibility to legal support and resources for employers to better support women.
Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England, said: "These projects will help deliver some of the important commitments set out in the Women’s Health Strategy. The sector brings a wealth of understanding of the impact on people’s lives, including those from disadvantaged groups, helping us provide positive support to even more women".
Government Minister Helen Whatelm, added: "We have already put women’s health at the top of the agenda by publishing the first ever Women’s Health Strategy for England, but there’s always more that can be done. The contribution that the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector makes is invaluable and improves the health of thousands of women".
For the Women's Health strategy PDF visit HERE and for information on TWO visit HERE
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