Preventing harassment: are you prepared for the new duties?

According to a recent survey by ACAS, 41% of employers are unaware of the changes to the duty to prevent sexual harassment in force from 30 October, leaving them exposed to a risk of claims.

What is the duty?

Since October 2024, employers have been under a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From the end of this month, that threshold will rise: employers must demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment (our emphasis). This higher bar reflects a stronger focus on proactive risk management, prevention, and demonstrable evidence of action.

Third-party harassment

From 30 October, employers will also be under a new express duty to prevent third-party harassment of their staff. This means employers may be liable if a worker is harassed by clients, customers, patients, service users, contractors, or guests, and the employer has not taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. These protections apply across all protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, not just sexual harassment, and will particularly impact customer and client‑facing environments, such as retail, transport, hospitality and healthcare. Employers should not assume their existing (sexual) harassment compliance work will be enough. Policies, training and risk assessments should be reviewed specifically through the lens of third-party risks.

Prevention remains essential

Guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission already stresses that employers must act before an incident occurs. Prevention is an anticipatory duty, meaning organisations must take steps to understand the risks specific to (areas of) their business and put effective measures in place.

Employment tribunals will expect employers to show that they have carried out detailed risk assessments and that their steps are tailored, proportionate, regularly reviewed, and updated as risks evolve. Adequate training of all staff is essential, and this should not merely be a ‘tick box’ exercise.

What should you be doing?

While employers should already have taken steps to comply with the existing duty, it is not too late to prepare for the higher threshold from the end of October. Employers should be:

• ensuring all relevant policies are robust and up-to-date;
• training all staff and ensuring any training is refreshed as appropriate;
• identifying higher‑risk situations, such as customer-facing activities, business travel, social events, and lone or remote working;
• identifying and implementing ‘all reasonable steps’ to address any areas of concern;
• ensuring third parties are aware of a zero-tolerance approach to harassment, such as relevant provisions in contractual documentation and appropriate signage in customer-facing areas;
• maintaining clear, auditable records: risk assessments, training attendance, actions taken in response to concerns and reviews of the effectiveness of preventative measures. These records will be essential in demonstrating compliance with the heightened preventative duty.