Preventing sexual harassment at work: the employer’s duty.
Employers in Great Britain must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their staff, including by customers and clients, since 30 October 2026. Here is what the law says and the steps that show you took it seriously.
Preventing harassment
The duty in Great Britain
Oct 2024
Duty began
Oct 2026
All steps from
25%
Uplift, at most
- Harassment policy Everyone is asked to accept it Step 1
- Risk assessment A checklist of tasks Step 2
- Course Renews every year Step 3
- Customers and clients Third parties, from 30 October 2026 Covered
The duty, and what changed
- Since 26 October 2024, employers have had to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their work (Equality Act 2010, section 40A).
- Since 30 October 2026, it is all reasonable steps (Employment Rights Act 2025). One or two steps taken when more were reasonable is no longer enough.
It is a duty to prevent harassment before it happens, not only to deal with a complaint after it.
Customers, clients and other third parties
Also from 30 October 2026, an employer must not permit a third party, meaning anyone who is not the employer or one of its employees, to harass an employee. An employer permits it when the harassment happens in the course of the employee’s work and the employer did not take all reasonable steps to prevent it.
Think of customers, clients, service users, members of the public, contractors, and people at events, online as well as in person.
What happens if you don’t
- When a tribunal upholds a sexual harassment claim and awards compensation, it must consider whether you also breached the duty to prevent it. If you did, it can add up to 25% to the compensation.
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission can take enforcement action over a breach of the duty.
The steps to take
Acas’s guidance for employers covers:
- A risk assessment for your sector, work and roles, reviewed regularly. Lone meetings with clients, alcohol, social events, overnight travel and power imbalances raise the risk, and younger workers and apprentices may be at higher risk.
- A policy and a full and fair procedure for complaints.
- Training so everyone can recognise harassment, with more for managers and senior leaders, reviewed regularly.
- More than one way to report, so nobody has to go to their own manager.
- Records of complaints, to spot patterns.
- Third-party risks from customers, clients and the public.
Showing that you did
If a claim reaches a tribunal, what counts is what you can show: the policy and who accepted it, the risk assessment and what you did about it, who completed training and when, and how each report was handled.
Sources
- Equality Act 2010, section 40A, section 40 (third parties) and section 124A (the uplift), as amended by the Employment Rights Act 2025 from 30 October 2026 (SI 2026/1065)
- Steps for employers to prevent sexual harassment (Acas)
This guide is general information, not legal advice. For one person’s situation, ask Acas (0300 123 1100, free) or a solicitor.
Show the steps you took, not just say them.
KivoHR’s harassment kit tracks who accepted the policy, the risk assessment’s tasks and the yearly course.