On 26 October 2024, significant legal changes came into effect in the form of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023. This set new standards and expectations around sexual harassment in the workplace. As dedicated advocates for businesses, Thrive Law is here to help you to be proactive in navigating these crucial updates.
Under the preventative duty, employers are expected to assess the specific risks of sexual harassment within their organisation and take proactive steps to mitigate them. This includes regularly reviewing workplace culture, policies and reporting mechanisms, as well as delivering effective, tailored training that empowers employees to speak up and equips leaders to respond appropriately.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) now has powers to enforce compliance, including investigating, issuing action notices and seeking court orders where employers fall short. In addition, where a harassment claim succeeds, tribunals can increase compensation by up to 25% if the employer has failed to take reasonable preventative steps.
While we’ve yet to see a tribunal ruling directly applying this new duty, scrutiny from regulators and employees has intensified. Prevention is no longer a “nice to have”; it’s both a legal and cultural imperative.
Do you have an up to date anti bullying and harassment policy?
Do you have an adequate reporting procedure?
Do your employees interact with members of the public / suppliers / customers as part of their role?
Are your managers sufficiently equipped to deal with any reports of sexual harassment?
Do your current risk assessments need updating?
How does this link with your current policies, practises and training in the business?
By addressing these changes proactively, you not only reduce legal risks, but also reaffirm your commitment to workplace integrity and inclusivity. At Thrive Law we have developed a programme of support for employers to ensure compliance with this new obligation, which can be tailored to the needs of your business.
Our team of specialist employment lawyers and trainers can develop interactive, role-specific training, bespoke to your organisation, to help you:
Our sessions are practical, engaging and legally robust; combining Thrive’s employment law expertise with our wellbeing-first approach to people and culture.
If you have not yet carried out your sexual harassment risk assessment, or would like assistance with refreshing this or discussing your preventative duty training, we can help.
Our “Train the Trainer” programme equips experienced managers and leaders with the skills, confidence and legal insight needed to deliver compelling, inclusive training across your organisation. Guided by our expert employment law solicitors who are passionate about mental health, ED&I and neurodiversity.
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Associate Solicitor
Since October 2024, employers have been under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment from happening in the first place. That’s a meaningful shift from the previous position, which was largely reactive. The duty sits under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, and it requires employers to actively assess risks, review their culture and reporting mechanisms, and take genuine preventative action. It’s not satisfied by having a policy sitting on an intranet.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 goes further, upgrading the duty to “all reasonable steps” in October 2026 and extending it to cover third-party harassment (from clients, customers and contractors).
If an Employment Tribunal upholds a sexual harassment claim and finds the employer failed to comply with the preventative duty, it can apply a 25% uplift to any compensation awarded. Our sexual harassment page covers what this means in practice, and you can read more about the evolving legal standards in our blog on what’s changing and what employers need to do now.
Start with a risk assessment. You need to identify the specific risks of sexual harassment in your organisation, which means thinking about your environment, your culture, your reporting channels, and the psychological safety of your organisation. From there, you can build a response that’s tailored to those risks, rather than generic.
In practical terms, that means reviewing or drafting your anti-harassment policy, delivering training that goes beyond tick-box awareness, making sure managers know how to receive and respond to a disclosure, and keeping records of what you’ve done and why.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has enforcement powers and expects employers to be able to demonstrate what steps they took to prevent harassment; and employer will expect to take “all reasonable steps” from October 2026. “We have a policy” is not a complete answer. We offer sexual harassment prevention training and risk assessment support, tailored to your organisation.
At a minimum, policies and training should be reviewed whenever the law changes (as it has significantly since October 2024), when there’s a disclosure or incident in your organisation, or when there’s a material change in your workforce structure or operating environment. That said, annual review is a sensible baseline in any case, depending on your organization’s size.
The more important question is whether your training and policies reflect reality. A policy that’s never communicated, training that staff nod through once and forget, and a reporting process that people don’t trust won’t satisfy the preventative duty regardless of how recently they were updated. The EHRC expects an ongoing, proactive approach, and for you to take all reasonable steps to preven harassment. If your last update was pre-October 2024, it needs revisiting urgently.
The headline is to take it seriously and act promptly, but ultimately a manager should have sufficient training to feel confident in their response and the expectation within your organisation. The first response to a disclosure sets the tone for everything that follows.
From there, the employer should carry out a fair investigation, keep the reporting employee informed, and take proportionate action where the complaint is upheld. Documenting everything carefully at every stage. How you handle a report matters as much legally as the outcome: delays, poor communication and inadequate investigation can themselves give rise to liability, separate from the underlying conduct. If you’re dealing with a disclosure for the first time or a complex situation, get legal advice early. Get in touch with our team here.
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You can also explore our FAQ guide on key employer obligations under the Worker Protection Act 2023 for a safer workplace: Check it out here: https:// www.thrivelaw.co.uk/understanding-the-workerprotection-act-2023-key-questions-answered/
