Employment Rights Bill Update: Strengthening of the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work

­Proposed date: October 2026

What is likely to happen?

The new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work (in force from 26 October 2024) will become a duty to take "all" reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. Regulations will specify the steps that employers should take, such as carrying out risk assessments and implementing harassment policies and complaints procedures.

A complaint of sexual harassment at work will be treated as a protected disclosure under whistleblowing legislation.

Confidentiality provisions and NDAs will not prevent employees from discussing allegations of discrimination or harassment.

Employers will be liable for harassment (of any kind) by third parties, such as clients or suppliers, unless they take reasonable steps to prevent it.

Employers should also be aware that the government is considering whether sexual harassment protections should be extended to volunteers.

The Act does not currently state which steps are reasonable for an employer to take, but the regulations are expected to outline these reasonable steps.

What is the current law?

From 26 October 2024, employers are expected to take reasonable steps to protect their employees from sexual harassment.

Employers have a duty to anticipate when sexual harassment may occur and take reasonable steps to prevent it.

If sexual harassment has taken place, an employer should take action to stop it from happening again. This sends a clear signal to all employers that they must take reasonable preventative steps against sexual harassment, encourage cultural change where necessary, and reduce the likelihood of sexual harassment occurring.

Guidance for employers on developing appropriate plans and policies was published in relation to the new duty by the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Services (Acas) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

An opportunity to get ahead of the curve:

If you are a BreatheHR user, there is an additional ‘Learn’ module with over 95

+ courses that cover the compliance essentials. There is a specific course available for sexual and sex-based harassment awareness, where it is made clear that both are prohibited by law and never tolerated in the workplace.

This is an opportunity for you as a business, to show you are already starting to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment from taking place at work, ahead of the Bill being introduced. This feature will become live at the end of October, following an exciting new update!

If this is something you are interested in, please get in contact with us and we can get you set up with a free 14-day trial.