Stronger Harassment Laws: What’s Changed

From “reasonable” to “all reasonable steps” — plus new liability for third-party harassment. What HR must do now to reduce risk.

Stronger harassment law

The Employment Rights Act 2025 places an obligation on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers instead of reasonable steps.

The Act also introduces employer liability for third-party harassment. This liability is not just limited to sexual harassment, but extends to harassment on the grounds of age, disability, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

What can HR do now?

Audit current practices: Assess current approach to assessing, managing and preventing the risk of harassment, including from third parties.
Plan ahead: Start preparing now using our Line manager training on bullying and harassment and our Leading practice guides on Building a working environment free from harassment.
Engage in consultation: Although not confirmed, there is likely to be further consultation on the detail of the regulations.
Stay informed: Look out for regulations intended to clarify what constitutes reasonable steps (although these are not expected until 2027, which is after the changes have come into force).

Expanded sexual harassment prevention duty: Eight-point checklist for HR

From 30 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 widens the sexual harassment prevention duty on employers to require them to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of workers. As 30 October approaches, what should HR professionals be doing to ensure that their organisation is ready to comply with the expanded duty?

1. Understand expansion of sexual harassment prevention duty

Since October 2024, employers of any size in England, Wales and Scotland have had a specific legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers in the course of their employment.

For the first time, the law explicitly required employers to take proactive reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers, rather than restricting themselves to dealing with the harassment after it has occurred.

In other words, employers have been expected to anticipate situations in which workers may be subjected to sexual harassment in the course of employment and take action to prevent the harassment taking place.

From 30 October 2026, that requirement is strengthened, with the addition of the word "all" before "reasonable steps".

Problematically for employers, further legislation to specify what steps will be regarded as reasonable is not expected until 2027. Nevertheless, employers cannot afford to wait and must get a handle now on all the reasonable preventative steps that they could take, bearing in mind (among other things):

the employer's size and resources;
the nature of the working environment; and
the risks present in the organisation's workplace.

Existing Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance on what counts as "reasonable steps" is a good starting point.

2. Review your organisation's anti-sexual harassment policies

Employers must ensure that they have adopted robust anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies that cover sexual harassment and are accessible to all staff.

The policies could set out:

the employer's commitment to fostering an inclusive culture and eradicating bullying or harassment at work, including details of what preventative steps it takes to reduce the risk of sexual harassment;
a clear definition of what constitutes sexual harassment, with tailored examples;
the consequences for perpetrators of sexual harassment, highlighting the potential for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal;
what a worker should do to report sexual harassment if they are subjected to it in the course of their employment; and
the employer's approach to third-party sexual harassment.

Some employers will choose to have a standalone anti-sexual harassment policy and a separate policy covering other forms of harassment related to protected characteristics.

For other employers, a single policy covering all forms of harassment, including sexual harassment, may be sufficient.

Sexual harassment risk assessment form

Support your harassment prevention strategy with a risk assessment form that helps identify concerns and reduce workplace sexual harassment risks.

Use this form to assess sexual harassment risks in the workplace and identify practical steps to reduce them. Adapt it to reflect your organisation and workforce.

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3. Provide anti-sexual harassment training for staff

In advance of the expanded duty, employers should review how they deliver anti-harassment and anti-bullying training, which ideally should be provided to all workers.

While there is no strict requirement for employers to conduct anti-harassment training, it remains a key preventative measure and is one of the first things employment tribunals will look for when employers are defending a harassment claim.

It is particularly important that line managers receive training, as they are normally the individuals who are dealing with issues on the ground.

Key evidence in the employer's favour is likely to be that:

the training is up to date;
staff have been asked to complete the training regularly (for example annually); and
staff have acknowledged each time that they have completed the training.

Training should not be a one-off exercise implemented just because the law is changing. It is important for employers to:

monitor the training to ensure that it always reflects current terminology, case law and workplace trends; and
ensure that a schedule is in place for training to be delivered to the existing workforce and that new recruits are required to take the training as part of onboarding.

4. Monitor what is happening in the workplace

An important element of taking "all reasonable steps" is to find out what is happening in the workplace so that sexual harassment can be tackled.

Employers should analyse the number of formal complaints that involve sexual harassment. It can be particularly useful if employers are able to identify sexual harassment high-risk areas: are there departments or specific working environments where complaints are being raised more frequently?

The employer could also gather information via an anonymous survey. This is important because the number of formal complaints will not tell the whole story: there will be complaints where the issue was resolved informally, or the problem may exist but no one has ever confronted it.

Once a harassment complaint has been resolved, a playback session can be useful to identify any lessons that could be learned from what has happened. More informal routes can also be used to gather feedback provided through conversations with employees (for example exit interviews).

5. Undertake sexual harassment risk assessments

The use of risk assessments is now widely recognised as a vital tool to enable employers to comply with the sexual harassment preventative duty.

Risk assessments enable employers to evaluate:

the risk of workers being exposed to sexual harassment in the workplace; and
the steps that can be taken to minimise those risks.

Employers can use our model Sexual harassment risk assessment form, which has been updated in light of the 30 October 2026 changes, as a framework for their risk assessments. However, employers need to adapt it to meet their own specific needs and identify risk factors that are relevant to their organisation.

Employers may need to run separate risk assessments for different parts of their organisation. For example, the risk factors in a public-facing working environment could be very different to those in a non-public-facing workplace.

Sexual harassment risk assessments should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

6. Take follow-up actions arising from risk assessments

Sexual harassment risk assessments can help to decide what steps the employer needs to take to minimise the risks identified.

The employer must take all "reasonable" steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers in the course of their employment to comply with the preventative duty.

What is "reasonable" will vary from employer to employer, but relevant factors include:

the employer's size and resources available to it;
the nature of the working environment;
the risks present in the workplace;
the nature of any interaction with third parties;
the time, cost and potential disruption associated with taking a particular step weighed against its potential benefit; and
whether concerns of sexual harassment have been raised with the employer.

The EHRC recommends that employers consider having a designated lead to take responsibility for implementing an action plan and complying with the preventative duty.

7. Have clear lines of reporting for incidents

It is vital to have a clear route in place for staff to report incidents of sexual harassment so that prompt action can be taken. The expansion of the preventative duty is a good opportunity to review the reporting process.

While some complaints of sexual harassment against a colleague will inevitably lead to a formal complaint, employees should be given the option of raising the issue informally first. Not all complainants will want to go immediately down the formal route, given how difficult it can be to retain a positive working relationship with someone once you have raised a formal grievance against them.

Employees must be given the option to raise the issue with someone other than their immediate superior. This is in case the alleged perpetrator is their own manager.

Once a grievance has been raised, it is important that it is dealt with in a timely manner, with the key steps being:

an investigation;
a grievance hearing; and
an opportunity to appeal if the complaint is not upheld.

The complaint should be dealt with in an objective and confidential way. This means that the right of the alleged perpetrator to be dealt with fairly must also be respected.

In relation to third-party harassment, staff should be given a route to report incidents that they have experienced - or witnessed - as soon as possible after the incident.

8. Focus on potential for third-party harassment

Employers now need to pay close attention to the risk of staff being subjected to third-party harassment, for example by customers and clients.

That is because, alongside the expanded duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, employer liability for third-party harassment is also introduced on 30 October 2026.

Steps that an employer can take include:

covering third-party harassment in any sexual harassment risk assessments, and any wider harassment risk assessments;
providing comprehensive training to staff on handling difficult interactions with third parties, setting boundaries, making bystander interventions and empowering individuals to remove themselves from difficult situations;
giving additional training for managers so that they are able to support individuals who have been subjected to harassment by a third party; and
ensuring that the organisation's zero tolerance approach to harassment is communicated to third parties via email and notices displayed in public areas of the workplace.

Employer liability for third-party harassment extends to the other protected characteristics already covered by the anti-harassment provisions in the Equality Act 2010 (not just sex but also age, disability, gender reassignment/transitioning, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation).

Line manager training is critical to fostering an appropriate organisational culture sexual harassment. Here Lisa Bell of Tell Jane begins to explain how this can be achieved.

Catch up on-demand and learn what the new harassment law changes mean for your organisation.

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What actions should we be taking to prepare for the responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including from third parties?

A: There is currently a duty on an employer to take "reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment (s.40A of the Equality Act 2010). The Employment Rights Act 2025 changes that to a duty to take "all" reasonable steps and the Government has indicated that this change will be made in October 2026. I am not convinced that this makes any real difference to the duty that already exists. The word to emphasise here is not "all" but "reasonable". The employer should take such steps as it is reasonable to expect an employer to take to prevent sexual harassment. Adding the word "all" into the mix doesn't mean that the employer's steps will now have to go beyond what it is reasonable to expect an employer to do. The Equality Commission has already published guidance on taking reasonable steps to prevent harassment and I don't think this will need to be updated significantly.

Would third-party harassment apply to shared serviced office buildings, for example employees of one business moving around communal spaces?

A: Yes. It doesn't matter where the harassment happens, what matters is whether or not the employee is acting in the course of their employment when they are harassed. An employee who is at work and moving around a communal space in a shared office building is highly likely to be acting in the course of their employment and so the employer will be liable for any harassment by employees of other companies using the same space if the tribunal is persuaded that they failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent such harassment from occurring in the first place.

Harassment in Practice: Your Top Questions Answered

With third-party harassment changes, will this apply if the employee is overseas and the harassment happens there?

A: Yes. Provided the employee is sufficiently based within the UK so that the Equality Act applies to their employment then harassment that occurs overseas will potentially fall within the scope of the new provision. Any harassment must, however, take place while the employee is acting in the course of their employment. It may be that something that happens during a social event closely connected with a business trip will fall within the scope of the new provision, but a separate weekend break taken by the employee while on the trip will not - each case will depend on its own facts. Liability will only arise when the employer has failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment and a key factor in a tribunal deciding that is likely to be the extent to which the employer could control or influence the environment the employee was working in. With foreign travel it may be that there is less that the employer can reasonably do to prevent harassment and that would be a factor that the tribunal would take into account.

Expert Insight: Preparing for Harassment Law Changes

Want to go deeper into the upcoming harassment law changes? This short podcast breaks down what’s changing, what it means in practice, and how HR teams can take a more proactive approach to prevention.

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