Significant changes to harassment law are expected to come into force on 30 October 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025. These changes are:
Enhanced duty to prevent sexual harassment: the existing duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment will be heightened by requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent such harassment.
Reintroduction of third-party harassment liability: employer’s will be liable for third-party harassment for all relevant protected characteristics, again requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent such harassment.
These reforms represent a substantial shift from a reactive approach to a proactive one. Employers will be expected to identify and address harassment risks before complaints arise. Failure to do so may expose employers to increased liability and greater scrutiny in Employment Tribunal proceedings.
In this article, we cover what employers need to know about the changes to harassment law, including what they will need to demonstrate and what actions employers should take now.
Employers must be able to show that they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent harassment. To illustrate this, it will be important for employers to evidence that they have carried out risk assessments in relation to harassment and have taken appropriate preventative measures in response to the findings of those assessments.
In considering whether an employer has met their obligations to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, Employment Tribunals are likely to examine:
what risks the employer identified;
what preventative measures were implemented;
whether those measures were effective; and
whether additional reasonable measures could have been taken.
Going forward, employers who simply maintain an anti-harassment policy, provide annual training, but do not identify proactive steps to prevent causes of sexual harassment, or fail to take such steps, may be unable to demonstrate compliance with their obligations.
As part of the new legislation, employers will also be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent employees being subjected to harassment by third parties in the course of their employment. Third parties may include customers, clients, contractors, suppliers, service users, visitors and other external individuals.
Unlike the duty relating to sexual harassment, third-party harassment protection extends to all forms of harassment related to protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. Examples of conduct by third parties which would fall under the new legislation could include:
a customer making sexual comments towards restaurant staff;
a client racially abusing an employee;
a contractor repeatedly making offensive comments about an employee's disability; or
a visitor making homophobic remarks.
In the event that an employee is subjected to harassment by third parties, employers will need to show that they took appropriate steps to prevent such conduct prior to it taking place and, after any such incident, responded effectively.
The new legislation does not provide an exhaustive checklist of the ways in which the tribunal will consider whether “all reasonable steps” have been taken. However, the key question will likely be:
"What reasonable measures were available to this employer, and did it take all of them?"
What constitutes all reasonable steps will depend on the specific circumstances of the employer, including their size, sector, working environment, resources and other relevant facts. The larger the organisation and the greater the known risk, the more will be expected.
To prepare for the changes taking effect on 30 October 2026, employers should:
Conduct comprehensive risk assessments and document them, identifying all scenarios where employees may be at risk of sexual harassment, including from third parties.
Workplace risks include lone working, night working, business travel, alcohol-related events, remote working and messaging platforms, customer-facing roles, power imbalances between managers and staff.
Third party risks include customer interactions, client meetings, site visits, contractor relationships, power imbalances between clients and employees and service user interactions.
Review and update policies to ensure they specifically address sexual harassment and third-party harassment both as identified in risk assessments and more generally. Policies should specifically prohibit sexual harassment, explain reporting routes, address third-party harassment, set out manager responsibilities, explain investigation procedures, prohibit victimisation and retaliation. These policies should be properly published and accessible, and simplified versions should be displayed around the workplace.
Establish multiple reporting mechanisms to ensure employees feel safe reporting concerns. Consider multiple reporting channels, HR reporting routes, anonymous reporting systems, whistleblowing channels, and escalation routes where the complaint concerns a manager or an employee is not satisfied with how a complaint has been dealt with. Employers should regularly remind staff how concerns can be raised.
Implement meaningful training programmes for all staff on recognising and reporting sexual harassment, with additional training for managers on handling complaints. Training should not be treated as a “tick-box” exercise, should be refreshed periodically and attendance records retained.
Training for all employees should cover what harassment is, examples of unacceptable conduct, bystander intervention, and reporting procedures.
Training for managers should also cover handling complaints, identifying warning signs, responding appropriately, confidentiality requirements, and preventing victimisation.
Put in place measures to address third-party harassment, including public notices, contractual terms with third parties, and procedures for dealing with third-party harassment incidents. For example, a customer notice could state “We operate a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, harassment and discrimination towards our employees”.
Establish monitoring systems to track complaints, identify trends, and evaluate effectiveness of preventative measures. The logic here is to look for patterns rather than waiting for formal complaints.
Engage with staff through surveys, one-to-ones and exit interviews to understand the extent of any problems and identify risk areas.
Consider appointing workplace champions trained in providing support to individuals who have experienced harassment.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its own eight-step guide summarising the detailed guidance for preventing sexual harassment at work. Whilst these steps are not an exhaustive list, implementing them should help employers evidence that they have taken positive action to prevent and deal with sexual harassment in the workplace.
The duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees, including by third parties, will be an onerous one for employers and will make it much harder to successfully defend a sexual harassment claim.
In addition to the risk of a claim for sexual harassment, in the event that an employer fails to comply with the new legislation they could also face the financial penalty of an uplift to any compensation awarded to an employee by the Employment Tribunal in respect of discrimination and a potential investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission resulting in enforcement action in relation to any failure.
In response to wide-spread requests for government backed guidance/regulations to be published setting out what reasonable steps should be taken in contemplation of the new legislation, the government has stated that it will only bring forward regulations specifying reasonable steps where it is considered that this would be proportionate and only once there is a clear evidence base supporting how effective a particular step is in preventing workplace sexual harassment.
The government launched a call for evidence withinput from industry experts in relation to what effective measures can be put in place to address sexual harassment including in relation to company culture, staff training and company policies. They have also sought views on how the reasonableness of those measures may differ from one business to another depending on size, sector and other factors. This consultation process closed on 30 June 2025 and the outcome is awaited.
Employers should monitor developments and be prepared to adapt their policies and procedures once the regulations specifying reasonable steps are published in 2027/28.
For further information, please contact our employment team.
