Key Takeaways
- Effective Oct. 30, 2026, employers in Great Britain must take “all” reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, a significantly higher standard than the current “reasonable steps” duty.
- Employer liability will extend to harassment by third parties, such as clients, customers and suppliers, across all relevant protected characteristics, and a single incident may be enough.
- Sexual harassment disclosures are now expressly protected under whistleblowing law, and restrictions on confidentiality terms in agreements are expected in 2027.
- Employers should review their policies, risk assessments, training and third-party contracts now to ensure they can show they took all reasonable steps.
Effective Oct. 30, 2026, Great Britain’s Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) will further increase pressure on employers in Great Britain to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Since Oct. 26, 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 required employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. Examples of “reasonable steps” include carrying out sexual harassment risk assessments, training staff, implementing policies and providing clear reporting lines. Separately, under Section 109(4) of the Equality Act 2010, an employer can defend a claim for harassment by its employees if it shows that it took all reasonable steps to prevent it.
Now, employers will be required to take “all” reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment – a much higher threshold. In addition, employer liability will extend to harassment by third parties, and the same threshold will apply.
All Reasonable Steps
In practical terms, employers will need to leave no reasonable stone unturned in their plans to prevent sexual harassment.
In light of the new legislation, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) updated its guidance on what taking “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment could entail, depending on the size of the organization, the sector and the kind of work done by the workers. This includes sharing and regularly reviewing the organization’s sexual harassment policy, making the organization’s zero-tolerance approach to harassment clear, and having organization-wide measures in place to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the first place. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is also expected to publish updated guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work.
There is no stand-alone claim in Great Britain for an employer’s failure to take steps to prevent sexual harassment. As was the case before the new legislation, an employee’s remedy for the employer’s failure to take all reasonable steps is that, if a sexual harassment claim is successful, damage awards can be increased by up to 25%.
Third-Party Harassment
The extension of liability to harassment by third parties does not stop at sexual harassment. It covers harassment related to the relevant protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 – age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
For an employer to be liable, the third-party harassment must occur in the course of the employment and the employer must have failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. For example, harassment of an employee by a supplier attending the organization’s holiday party is likely to fall within scope, opening potentially numerous new avenues of liability.
Acas also updated its guidance on what could amount to “all reasonable steps” to prevent third-party harassment. Examples include reviewing client, customer and supplier contracts to make sure they include key parts of the organization’s harassment policy, and, in some higher-risk environments, providing appropriate safety equipment and installing security cameras for some teams and areas.
The harassment need not be a course of conduct. A single incident could give rise to employer liability. An employee harassed by a third party will be able to bring a harassment claim before the employment tribunal and seek compensation unless the employer shows that it took all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment.
Whistleblowing Protection for Sexual Harassment Disclosures
As of April 6, 2026, a disclosure about sexual harassment is expressly regarded under the new law as a “qualifying disclosure.” As a result, workers who raise sexual harassment complaints are protected under whistleblowing law against detriment, and employees, specifically, are automatically protected from unfair dismissal.
The express coverage makes clear that workers are encouraged to raise such concerns and that protected disclosures are not limited to, for example, criminal matters or health and safety issues.
Nondisclosure Agreements
The ERA 2025 will also make void terms in an agreement between an employer and a worker that would prevent the worker from making allegations or disclosures related to relevant harassment or discrimination. This applies when the worker experienced or witnessed the harassment or discrimination or the employer’s response to it, including harassment by a colleague, the employer or a third party. These provisions are not expected to come into force until 2027.
There are exceptions for “excepted agreements” that meet specific conditions. For example, when the worker requested confidentiality, received independent legal advice, gave informed consent and had a cooling-off period to reconsider, the confidentiality terms may be valid.
New Section 202A(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (inserted by the ERA 2025) allows the Secretary of State to make regulations providing that a provision in an excepted agreement is void if it prevents the worker from disclosing harassment to a specified description of person, for a specified purpose or in specified circumstances. However, these measures will not apply retrospectively.
For advice on how employers should be thinking about preventing sexual harassment in the workplace and associated issues, contact the authors.