Sexual Harassment - The Preventative Duty
Preventing Sexual Harassment – Changes from 30 October 2026
Since 26 October 2024, employers have had a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
From 30 October 2026, this duty is strengthened. Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, rather than simply taking some reasonable precautions.
The law also changes to make employers potentially liable for harassment by third parties, such as customers, clients and contractors, if they have not taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. This applies to sexual harassment and other forms of unlawful harassment.
What does this mean for employers?
Employers must take a proactive approach to preventing harassment, rather than simply responding when something goes wrong. This includes identifying risks, putting appropriate preventative measures in place and ensuring managers and employees understand their responsibilities.
What is reasonable will depend on the size and nature of the business and the risks involved. Employers are not expected to guarantee that harassment will never happen, but they must be able to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.
The existing remedy (under section 124A of the Equality Act 2010) will therefore continue to apply. Where an employment tribunal finds sexual harassment and awards compensation, it must consider whether the employer also breached the preventative duty. If so, it may increase the compensation by up to 25%, reflecting the extent of the breach.
If an employee makes a claim to a tribunal for sexual harassment and is successful, the tribunal can still increase the compensation by up to 25% (see enforcement below).
Steps to take
The EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) have stated that employers are unlikely to be able to comply with the preventative duty unless they carry out a sexual harassment risk assessment. They have also provided the following 8-step guide to help employers comply with the duty:
Develop an effective anti-harassment policy;
Engage your staff – this could be having regular one to ones, staff surveys, exit interviews, open door policies and regular notifications on policies and training;
Assess and take steps to reduce risk, including third-party risks (please see our template Harassment Risk Assessment);
Reporting – create as many ways as you can for staff to report any concerns they may have, see our template Confidential Reporting Form;
Training – regularly train your staff and provide additional training for managers;
What to do when a complaint is made – act immediately and deal with any complaints in a timely manner;
Dealing with harassment by third parties – harassment by a third party should be treated as seriously as harassment by an employee;
Monitor and evaluate your actions – review your policies and training plus monitor any incidents, complaints and suggestions.
Please also see the Equal Opportunities section and the short training video ‘Equal Opportunities, Working with Colleagues’ that provides general guidance, including covering banter (please note that this video alone would not be sufficient to meet the preventative duty and should be supported by regular sexual harassment training, separate manager training, refresher training and records of completion).
Enforcement
If an employer fails to make all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and an employee makes a sexual harassment claim then the tribunal is likely to rule in the employee’s favour.
Where an employment tribunal finds sexual harassment and awards compensation, it will also consider whether the employer also breached the preventative duty. If so, it may increase the compensation by up to 25%, reflecting the extent of the breach.
In addition to this, the EHRC have powers to investigate concerns about sexual harassment, enter into binding agreements, issue unlawful act notices and seek court enforcement where appropriate. However, the EHRC are unlikely to address all concerns they receive as they have limited manpower, so it is expected that they will focus on larger employers and cases that indicate wider or repeated compliance issues. A fine would not arise from the initial complaint itself but may follow a failure without reasonable excuse to comply with a notice issued by the EHRC.
Compensation
If an employee is successful in a claim for sexual harassment, compensation will be based on loss of earnings, injury to feelings and in rare cases aggravated damages. There is no ‘cap’ on loss of earnings compensation. Loss of earnings could take into consideration loss of pension and promotion opportunities, so awards can be significant.
What to do next
The best way to prevent sexual harassment and reduce the risk of claims against the Company is to take all reasonable steps to prevent it, including harassment by third parties such as customers, clients and contractors.
You can use the 8-step guide above along with the resources available on YourHR.guide.
Further Information
Equality and Human Rights Guidance: EHRC 8 Step Guide