Sexual Harassment: What the Employment Rights Act 2025 Means for Your Business

If you employ people, this one matters. The rules on preventing sexual harassment at work have already changed once this year — and they're about to change again, more significantly.

Here's what's happened, what's coming, and what you actually need to do about it.

What's Already Live

Since 6 April 2026, disclosures about sexual harassment are officially protected under whistleblowing law. That means if an employee raises a concern about sexual harassment, they're automatically protected from being treated badly or dismissed because of it. They don't need to frame it as a health and safety issue or a legal breach — the disclosure itself qualifies.

This is a meaningful shift. It removes a barrier that previously made people hesitate before speaking up, and it puts a clear marker down: workers reporting sexual harassment have legal protection from day one.

What's Coming in October 2026

From October, the bar goes up again. The Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens your duty as an employer from taking "reasonable steps" to taking "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment.

That single word — all — matters more than it might sound. It aligns the preventative duty with the high threshold that already exists as a defence in sexual harassment claims under the Equality Act 2010. In practice, it means you need to be able to demonstrate you've genuinely considered every reasonable preventative measure, not just the ones that felt straightforward.

And there's a second significant change from the same date: employers will become liable for harassment of their employees by third parties — customers, clients, suppliers, contractors, visitors. If one of your team is harassed by someone outside the business, and you can't show you took all reasonable steps to prevent it, that's on you.

This is a particularly important shift if your team interacts with the public — hospitality, retail, healthcare, professional services, any business with a public-facing element.

So What Does "All Reasonable Steps" Actually Look Like?

The government has indicated that further regulations setting out specific reasonable steps will follow in 2027 after consultation. But employers need to comply with the higher duty from October 2026 — before that detailed guidance arrives.

That's deliberately uncomfortable, and it means you can't wait for someone to hand you a checklist. You need to act on what's already clear.

Based on what the Equality and Human Rights Commission has already published, and the direction of travel from government, here's what "all reasonable steps" looks like in practice:

A clear, accessible policy. Not buried in a handbook nobody reads. A live document that explicitly covers sexual harassment, third-party harassment, and how to raise a concern. Aligned with your whistleblowing policy, so the reporting routes are consistent.

A proper risk assessment. Tailored to your business, your sector, the specific roles your people do, and the situations they're in. Who do they interact with? Where? When? What scenarios create heightened risk? A generic assessment lifted from a template won't cut it.

Training for everyone. Not just managers. Everyone in your business needs to understand what sexual harassment is, how to recognise it, how to report it, and how to respond if they witness it. Managers need additional training on handling complaints properly.

Clear reporting channels. People need to know exactly how to raise a concern, who to go to, and what will happen next. Multiple routes are better than one — what if the person they'd normally tell is the issue?

Robust complaint handling. When concerns are raised, you need to respond promptly, fairly, and confidentially. How you handle the first complaint sets the tone for whether people ever raise another one.

Documented evidence of all of the above. If the worst happens and you need to demonstrate you took all reasonable steps, you need a paper trail showing what you did, when, and why.

Why the "All" Matters So Much

It's tempting to read the change from "reasonable steps" to "all reasonable steps" as semantic. It isn't.

The shift signals an expectation that you've actively looked at your workplace, identified where the risks sit, and addressed them — not just done the obvious things and hoped for the best. If you've thought "we'd never have an issue here," that thinking is exactly what the new duty is designed to challenge.

And on third-party harassment specifically: this is the area where most growing businesses haven't done much. Your policies probably cover behaviour between colleagues. Do they cover what happens if a customer crosses a line? Does your team know what to do? Have you ever talked to them about it?

If the answer to any of those is "not really," now is the time.

How My Team and I Can Help

This is exactly why Caroline Daniel and I created our Prevention of Sexual Harassment training. It's practical, interactive, and designed specifically for small and growing businesses — not lifted from corporate training programmes that don't reflect how you actually work.

We deliver sessions for both employees and managers, either on-site at your workplace or online. We cover what the law requires, what good looks like in practice, and how to handle concerns when they arise. We also help with the policy and risk assessment work that needs to sit alongside the training.

No scare tactics. No corporate jargon. Just practical, proportionate steps to protect your team and your business.

What to Do Next

If you haven't reviewed your sexual harassment policy, run a proper risk assessment, or trained your team — October isn't far away. Get in touch if you'd like to talk through what your business needs. We'll keep it straightforward, sensible, and tailored to where you actually are right now.