New UK workplace sexual harassment law officially comes into force this Friday, 30th October 2026, but are you ready?
From 30th October, the Employment Rights Act 2025 will strengthen current workplace sexual harassment law by stating that employers need to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment.
The new legislation covers both workplace sexual harassment and third party harassment.
What is changing in workplace sexual harassment law?
The Worker Protection Act 2023, which came into force in October 2024, required employers to anticipate the risk of sexual harassment occurring in the workplace to take reasonable steps to prevent it.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes measures to strengthen these protection and ensure workplaces are safer for everyone.
The new legislation applies to all organisations and businesses in England, Wales and Scotland.
The key changes introduced by the Employments Right Act 2025 include:
- The all reasonable steps standard has been introduced
- Employers have third-party liability, meaning they must take all reasonable steps to prevent employees being harassed by third parties, such as customers, clients, contractors and people using services
- Employees reporting sexual harassment will receive whistle-blowing protections
- Revisions to employment tribunal compensation and limits
- Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or confidentiality clauses designed to prevent workers from reporting workplace sexual harassment are legally void
What is meant by “all reasonable steps”?
Previously, the law stated that employers must take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens this duty for employers so that they must take “all reasonable steps.”
This establishes a much higher threshold of proactive risk management for sexual harassment in the workplace.
Acas guidance says it equates to employers taking all of the steps that are reasonable for their organisation rather than just some steps, and these should apply across the whole organisation rather than be targeted at people involved in a previous incident or considered at higher risk. It also includes protecting workers from sexual harassment both in-person and online.
Employers must also now focus on preventing sexual harassment rather than responding to incidents.
The exact steps taken by employers will depend on their organisation size, sector and the kind of work their employees do, but they must take all those appropriate.
Taking all reasonable steps could include:
- Developing a workplace sexual harassment policy and sharing this with all employees
- Ensuring all employees undergo mandatory sexual harassment training, and that some workers also undergo specific additional training to ensure they can handle any disclosures or complaints
- Clearly communicating to all employees that workplace sexual harassment will not be tolerated
- Making sure that all employees understand how to recognise and report sexual harassment concerns
How can employers prepare for the new workplace sexual harassment law?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is set to publish new guidance to support employers with the new workplace sexual harassment law.
In the meantime, employers can refer to their existing technical guidance on sexual harassment at work.
Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) has also provided updated guidance on workplace sexual harassment and third party harassment to reflect the changes introduced in the Employment Rights Act 2025.
The independent public body also provides further guidance on preventing sexual harassment, what sexual harassment is, what to do if you have experienced sexual harassment, how to handle complaints and creating a sexual harassment policy.
What actions can employers take to prevent workplace sexual harassment?
All employers must be proactive in addressing the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace and third-party harassment. This includes:
- Conducting and documenting a dedicated workplace harassment risk assessment
- Reviewing and updating existing workplace policies, and considering whether a stand-alone sexual harassment policy is relevant for your workplace. All policies must be clearly communicated to all employees
- Updating and sharing zero-tolerance policies that cover interactions with members of the public and third parties
- Providing high-quality sexual harassment training for all staff members and specific more in-depth training for managers
- Reviewing and revising reporting lines and service / client contacts
- Ensuring workers have more than one way of reporting sexual harassment incidents
This is not an exhaustive list, and organisations must consider whether they are doing everything they reasonably can to prevent sexual harassment, and not just respond to it. It is likely that more complex and larger organisations will need to take more measures to prevent sexual harassment.
What counts as workplace sexual harassment?
Workplace sexual harassment can be defined as any unwelcome sexual behaviour that creates an intimidating, hostile, uncomfortable or offensive work environment, or where submission to the behaviour is made a condition of employment or a specific job benefit, such as a promotion or pay rise. It can refer to a single severe incident or a pattern of smaller incidents.
Forms of sexual harassment can include:
- Verbal – such as making sexual jokes, innuendoes or teasing, asking unwelcome personal questions about an individual’s sex life or relationships, repeatedly asking a coworker out after they have clearly said no, or making inappropriate comments about someone’s body, clothing or appearance
- Non-verbal and visual – this could include staring, leering, making suggestive gestures, displaying or sharing sexually explicit images, posters, screen savers or videos or sending sexually suggestive emails, text messages or direct messages on work platforms
- Physical – this can refer to unwelcome touching, hugging, kissing or patting, intentionally brushing up against someone’s body or blocking someone’s movement or trapping them in a space
It’s important for employers to be aware that the impact of this unwelcome behaviour matters more than the intent of the perpetrator. Whether meant as a ‘joke’ or not, if behaviour is unwelcome and offensive, it can legally be considered harassment.
Other important factors for employers to remember include:
- Anyone can be a perpetrator of harassment – this includes managers, colleagues or non-employees such as clients, vendors or customers
- Harassment does not have a specific gender – both the perpetrator and the victim can be of any gender identity, and they can be the same gender or different genders
- Anyone affected by the conduct can file a complaint – A bystander who witnesses the offensive conduct and finds their work environment disrupted can file a complaint about sexual harassment.
Training to meet new workplace sexual harassment law
First Response Training (FRT) is one of the UK’s largest and leading national training providers.
Their company vision is to create safer working environments with people who care.
They deliver a wide and diverse range of training for businesses and organisations across all industry sectors and throughout the UK. Their course range includes training in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, mental health, food safety, health and social care and more.
Their training is mapped to current UK standards and legislation and follows relevant industry guidelines, such as those issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Skills for care, the Care Quality Commission and the Resuscitation Council UK.
Based on a common sense, proportionate approach to workplace safety, training helps learners to understand the true benefits of creating a healthy, safe and inclusive environment at work but also underlines how it must go beyond training to ensure a full organisational approach and culture.
FRT can provide organisations with a targeted training course about sexual harassment in the workplace, which addresses the new protections in the Employment Rights Act 2025.
The Level 2 Award in Harassment in the Workplace will equip employees and managers with the knowledge and skills needed to recognise, prevent, and respond to harassment in the workplace, in line with the latest legislative requirements. It includes the following content:
- Introduction to Workplace Harassment
- The Legal Landscape
- Recognising and Responding to Harassment
- Prevention and Creating a Positive Workplace Culture
- Employer Responsibilities under The Worker Protection Act (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023
- Case Studies and Scenarios
This course enables learners to:
- Define workplace harassment and distinguish it from other misconduct
- Understand the legal duties for preventing workplace sexual harassment
- Identify signs of harassment and know how to report it
- Apply strategies to build a respectful, inclusive workplace
- Recognise roles in fostering a safe, compliant work culture
A trainer from FRT explains:
“The introduction of strengthened workplace sexual harassment law is a reminder that there is still work to do to ensure an equal and safe world of work for all.
“The workplace should be a safe and supportive environment that does not tolerate sexual harassment of any form. Protecting the health, safety and welfare of employees goes far beyond minimising risks to their physical safety and really requires a holistic approach to ensure they are properly supported and have a positive experience in the workplace.”
You can download our free guide to creating a happy and inclusive working environment.
For more information on any of the training courses that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or e-mail info@firstresponsetraining.com.