A Jamie HR manager's guide

The manager's guide to preventing sexual harassment

A practical guide for managers and small businesses on the legal duty to prevent sexual harassment at work: what reasonable steps means today, third-party harassment, the tribunal compensation uplift, and how the duty strengthens to all reasonable steps from October 2026.
Duty since October 2024
Up to 25% uplift
Tightens October 2026

Preventing sexual harassment is a proactive legal duty on every employer.

Since 26 October 2024, the law has required every employer to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its employees. This guide sets out what that duty requires today, what EHRC guidance recommends in practice, the compensation consequences of getting it wrong, and what changes from October 2026.

What's inside
What counts as sexual harassment?3
The current duty to prevent it4
What reasonable steps looks like5
Assess and reduce the risk6
Policy and training7
Reporting routes and acting on complaints8
Harassment by third parties: now and from October 20269
The duty strengthens to all reasonable steps10
Tribunal consequences: the compensation uplift11
Getting harassment prevention right12
How Jamie HR helps13

What counts as sexual harassment?

The Equality Act 2010 sets a specific legal definition, and it covers more than employees in the everyday sense.
  • Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates a person's dignity, or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them, under section 26(2) of the Equality Act 2010.
  • The protection uses the wide definition of 'employment' in section 83 of the Equality Act 2010, which covers a contract of employment, a contract of apprenticeship, or a contract personally to do work, not only employees in the everyday sense.
  • Harassment can come from a colleague, a manager, or a third party such as a customer, client or contractor.
  • Protection from harassment under the Equality Act 2010 applies from day one, with no minimum length of service and no cap on the compensation a tribunal can award.

The current duty to prevent it

Since October 2024, preventing sexual harassment has been a standalone legal duty, not only a response after the event.
  • Since 26 October 2024, section 40A of the Equality Act 2010, inserted by the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, has required every employer to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its employees.
  • The duty is anticipatory: it requires you to reduce the risk of harassment happening, not only to act once a complaint is made.
  • The Equality and Human Rights Commission can enforce the duty directly under the Equality Act 2006, separately from any individual's tribunal claim.
  • The duty applies to every employer, whatever its size; there is no small business exemption.

What reasonable steps looks like

EHRC technical guidance sets out a four-step test for what the duty requires of your business.
  • Identify the risks of sexual harassment occurring in your business, identify the steps that could reduce those risks, decide which of those steps it would be reasonable to take, and then put the reasonable steps in place.
  • What counts as reasonable varies by employer: EHRC guidance points to your size and resources, your sector, the nature of your working environment, and the extent of your staff's contact with third parties.
  • There is no single checklist that applies identically to every business; the reasonable steps for a small office differ from those for a business with lone workers on client sites.
  • The EHRC's Employer 8-step guide sets out the recommended framework for putting the duty into practice, covering policy, staff engagement, risk assessment, reporting, training, complaint handling, third-party harassment, and monitoring.

Assess and reduce the risk

A risk assessment is the starting point EHRC guidance expects, in the same way you would assess any other workplace risk.
  • Carry out a risk assessment for sexual harassment specifically, rather than treating it as covered by a general health and safety assessment.
  • Consider factors EHRC guidance treats as relevant, including whether a harasser could be in a position of trust or seniority over a worker, and the culture, staffing and environment at any client or customer sites your staff attend.
  • Pay particular attention to situations that combine more than one risk factor, for example a worker attending a client site alone.
  • Record the risks you have identified and the steps you decide are reasonable, so you can show the assessment was made rather than assumed.
Manager tip
Revisit your risk assessment whenever your workplace changes significantly, for example a new client site, a restructure, or a move to more lone working.

Policy and training

A written policy and regular training are two of the EHRC's eight recommended steps.
  • Put a written anti-harassment policy in place that sets out what sexual harassment is, states that it will not be tolerated, and explains how a worker can raise a concern.
  • Cross-reference the policy with your wider grievance and disciplinary procedures, so employees can see how a complaint would be handled.
  • Provide training for all staff on what sexual harassment is and that it will not be tolerated, with separate training for managers on how to handle a complaint.
  • Refresh training on a regular cycle, rather than delivering it only once at induction with no update afterwards.

Reporting routes and acting on complaints

Prevention only works if a worker has somewhere to go and knows the report will be taken seriously.
  • Provide a clear, accessible route for a worker to report sexual harassment, and make sure staff know how to use it.
  • Offer more than one reporting channel, including one that does not require reporting to the alleged harasser or their direct manager.
  • Once a complaint is raised, investigate it and take appropriate action in line with your policies and procedures, rather than leaving it unaddressed.
  • Protect the person who raised the complaint from victimisation, and make that protection clear to them.
  • Keep confidential records of complaints and the action taken, sharing information only with those who need it to investigate or decide the outcome.
Watch out
Failing to act on a complaint, or allowing retaliation against the person who raised it, undermines any argument that reasonable steps were taken and increases tribunal risk. Take advice if you are unsure how to proceed.

Harassment by third parties: now and from October 2026

The legal position on customers, clients and other third parties is changing, and it is important to keep today's position separate from what is coming.
  • The old free-standing right to bring a claim against an employer for third-party harassment was repealed in 2013, and under current case law, including Unite the Union v Nailard, an employer is not liable for third-party harassment unless the employer's own response is itself discriminatory.
  • The current preventive duty already requires you to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of your employees by third parties, such as customers, clients or contractors, even though there is no separate claim for the harassment itself today.
  • From October 2026, section 21 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 creates a new, specific duty: an employer must not permit a third party to harass its employees, and will be liable unless it has taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.
  • This is a confirmed future change under the government's published implementation roadmap, listed for October 2026; no more precise commencement day had been announced as of July 2026.
Watch out
This specific third-party harassment duty has not yet been brought into force. Prepare your policy and training now so you are ready when the exact commencement date is confirmed, rather than waiting until October 2026.

The duty strengthens to all reasonable steps

A second change raises the standard itself, on top of the new third-party duty.
  • Section 20 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 amends section 40A(1) of the Equality Act 2010, inserting the word 'all', so that employers must take all reasonable steps, rather than reasonable steps, to prevent sexual harassment.
  • This section was not in force at Royal Assent and needs a commencement regulation before it takes effect.
  • The government's published implementation roadmap lists this change, together with the new third-party harassment duty, under measures taking effect in October 2026; as of July 2026, no commencement regulation had yet been made.
  • A separate power in section 22 of the Act lets the Secretary of State make regulations specifying steps that count as reasonable, for example around risk assessments, policies and reporting; these regulations had not been published as of July 2026 and are expected to follow a public consultation.
Manager tip
Prepare against the all reasonable steps standard now, so your risk assessment, policy, training and reporting routes are ready before the higher duty takes effect.

Tribunal consequences: the compensation uplift

Breaching the preventive duty already has a direct financial consequence in a successful harassment claim.
  • Section 124A of the Equality Act 2010, in force since 26 October 2024, lets an employment tribunal increase compensation by up to 25% where it upholds a sexual harassment claim and also finds the employer breached the section 40A preventive duty.
  • The uplift is added on top of the compensation the tribunal would otherwise award, which is itself uncapped in a discrimination claim.
  • The size of the uplift must reflect the extent of the breach, in the tribunal's opinion, rather than applying as a flat rate.
  • This 25% uplift already applies to the current reasonable steps duty; it is not a new consequence created by the October 2026 changes.
Watch out
A tribunal finding that you failed to take reasonable steps can increase an already uncapped harassment award by up to 25%, on top of any other liability. A documented risk assessment, policy, training record and complaint log is your evidence that reasonable steps were taken.

Getting harassment prevention right

A summary of the essentials covered in this guide:
  • Know the legal definition in section 26(2) of the Equality Act 2010, and that it covers more than employees in the everyday sense.
  • Meet the current duty: carry out a risk assessment, maintain a policy, train staff and managers, and provide clear reporting routes.
  • Act promptly and fairly on every complaint, and protect the person who raised it from victimisation.
  • Keep today's third-party harassment position separate from the specific new duty expected from October 2026.
  • Prepare now for the duty to strengthen from reasonable steps to all reasonable steps, ahead of its expected October 2026 commencement.
  • Remember the tribunal can already increase compensation by up to 25% for a breach of the preventive duty, on top of an uncapped award.

How Jamie HR helps

Jamie HR keeps your harassment policy, training records and reports in one secure, up-to-date place.
  • Policy library to hold your anti-harassment policy where every manager and employee can find it, updated in one place when the law changes.
  • Training records so you can show which managers and employees have completed harassment prevention training, and when it is due a refresh.
  • Secure document storage for risk assessments, complaint records and investigation notes, kept confidential and access-controlled.
  • Employee records that hold a clear, timestamped account of any report and the action taken, ready evidence that reasonable steps were followed.
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This guide is general information, accurate to the best of our knowledge as of 2026, and is not legal advice. Employment law changes and every situation is different, so for a specific case take professional HR or legal advice. Sources: legislation.gov.uk, gov.uk and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.