Since 26 October 2024, there has been a positive legal obligation on employers to take "reasonable steps" to protect their workers from sexual harassment.

If an employer breaches this preventative duty, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will have the power to take enforcement action against them. In addition, employment tribunals will have the power to increase compensation awards by up to 25% where an employer is found to have breached the duty.

Under the existing provisions of the Equality Act 2010, where a person commits an act of discrimination (including harassment) in the course of their employment, their employer is ordinarily liable for that act, in the event a successful claim is brought, unless the employer can show that it took "all reasonable steps" to prevent the discrimination from arising. "All reasonable steps" is a high bar, and many employers find it difficult to demonstrate that they have taken all such steps.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains provisions to further strengthen employer duties to prevent sexual harassment:

  • as of 6 April 2026, sexual harassment is expressly included as a category of wrongdoing capable of being a protected disclosure under whistleblowing legislation;
  • as of 1 October 2026, employers will be required to take "all reasonable steps" (rather than the current "reasonable steps") to prevent sexual harassment and also to provide protection from harassment by third parties generally; and
  • as of 1 October 2026, there will also be a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as "reasonable", to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The regulations themselves are expected sometime in 2027/28 following consultation.

Complete our short quiz below to find out what your organisation's sexual harassment "health check" score is.

You will need to complete all questions to receive your score. Please select the option closest to your organisation's current position if none of the options provided are an exact match.

If you have any questions about the issues raised in this health check tool or would like to discuss sexual harassment prevention more generally, please get in touch with Jonathan Chamberlain or Hannah Swindle using the form below.