"Preventing sexual harassment is about creating a workplace where inappropriate behaviour is less likely to happen in the first place."
Training South West Training Team
Sexual harassment is not simply an HR issue that begins when somebody makes a complaint.
For employers, prevention has become an increasingly important legal responsibility.
Since 26 October 2024, employers in Great Britain have had a positive legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. This is known as the preventative duty. Importantly, it is anticipatory: employers are expected to consider how sexual harassment could occur and take proactive steps rather than simply waiting for an incident.
And the law is changing again.
From 30 October 2026, employers will be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. New provisions will also require employers not to permit harassment of employees by third parties, such as customers and clients.
For organisations, this creates a good reason to review existing arrangements now.
This guide explores the changing legal landscape and some of the practical steps employers can take to create safer, more respectful workplaces.
This guide provides general information rather than legal advice. Employers should refer to current EHRC, government and ACAS guidance and obtain legal advice where appropriate.
Under the Equality Act 2010, sexual harassment involves unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating someone's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Sexual harassment does not have to involve physical contact.
Depending on the circumstances, it might include sexual comments or jokes, intrusive sexual questions, displaying or sharing sexual material, unwanted touching, repeated unwanted advances, sexual gestures, suggestive messages or other unwanted conduct of a sexual nature.
It can also occur digitally. Messaging platforms, social media, email and other online communications do not somehow sit outside workplace expectations. EHRC guidance specifically recognises that sexual harassment can occur in person and through channels such as social media, messaging tools and email.
"But it was only banter"
Workplace humour can be positive. The difficulty arises when humour becomes unwanted sexual conduct or contributes to an intimidating, degrading, humiliating, hostile or offensive environment.
Intent is therefore not the only consideration as someone may genuinely believe they were joking. That does not automatically mean their behaviour was acceptable.
This is one reason sexual harassment training should go beyond simply giving employees a legal definition. People need opportunities to consider the grey areas that occur in real workplaces:
These conversations help translate a policy into everyday behaviour.
Preventing sexual harassment also forms part of the wider challenge of creating an inclusive workplace culture, where people understand expected standards of behaviour, feel respected and are confident raising concerns. This is why many organisations consider sexual harassment prevention alongside their wider equality, diversity and inclusion (DEI) training and workplace culture initiatives.
The preventative duty introduced in October 2024 represented an important shift.
Employers should not simply wait until sexual harassment occurs and then respond.
EHRC guidance describes the duty as anticipatory, requiring employers to consider circumstances in which workers may experience sexual harassment and take proactive reasonable steps to prevent it.
What is reasonable will depend upon the employer and circumstances. There is not currently a single universal checklist that automatically demonstrates compliance.
However, EHRC guidance points employers towards measures including risk assessment, effective policies, staff engagement, reporting mechanisms, training for workers and managers, appropriate responses to complaints, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
That distinction matters as an organisation cannot necessarily point to a policy written five years ago and assume the issue is covered.
Prevention is an active process.
So, what could employers be considering now?
A practical approach might include:
EHRC guidance makes clear that policies and procedures alone are not enough; prevention requires more active measures appropriate to the workplace.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens the existing preventative duty.
From 30 October 2026, employers will be expected to take all reasonable steps rather than reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees.
The Act's explanatory notes state that an employer will have taken all reasonable steps where there are no further steps they could reasonably have been expected to take. What those steps are will depend upon the particular circumstances.
The legislation also provides powers for regulations to specify steps regarded as reasonable. These may include assessments, plans or policies, reporting arrangements and complaint-handling measures.
Government guidance states that further clear guidance will be published before the changes take effect. This means that employers should be careful about articles or providers claiming there is already one definitive new statutory checklist.
But there is an equally important message:
30 October is not the date to begin thinking about prevention.
Employers already have a preventative duty. The forthcoming change makes the standard stronger.
This is one of the most significant changes for employers.
A third party is someone other than the employer or another employee. That could include a:
Customer • Client • Patient • Service user • Supplier • Contractor • Visitor
From 30 October 2026, an employer must not permit a third party to harass an employee. Under the legislation, an employer is treated as permitting this where the employee is harassed by the third party in the course of employment and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it.
And this new provision isn't confined to sexual harassment.
The explanatory notes state that it encompasses the three types of harassment under section 26 of the Equality Act. For harassment related to protected characteristics, it covers the characteristics to which harassment provisions apply: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
What could third-party harassment look like?
Consider a few everyday workplace scenarios.
These examples illustrate why risk assessment matters.
Employers should consider not only relationships within the workforce, but also who their employees encounter while doing their jobs.
A useful way to approach prevention is through six stages:
Prevention should evolve as risks evolve.
This Assess → Prevent → Train → Report → Respond → Review model closely reflects the proactive approach encouraged in existing EHRC guidance.
A good policy is important, but ask ten employees what the sexual harassment policy says and how many could tell you? It's fair to say, that a policy has limited preventative value if employees do not understand it, cannot find it or do not believe it will be followed.
It's essential that staff understand:
This is where sexual harassment training can play an important role as it can turn legal terminology and written policies into realistic workplace situations.
However, training should not be treated as a compliance shield. An employer cannot simply deliver an annual online module and assume every foreseeable risk has therefore been addressed. Instead, training works best as one component of a wider preventative approach incorporating leadership, risk assessment, policies, reporting arrangements, management capability and appropriate action.
EHRC guidance recommends training and regular evaluation alongside broader preventative measures.
Managers are often the first person an employee approaches and their response matters. Imagine an employee says:
"Can I tell you something? One of our clients keeps making comments to me, but I don't want to make a big thing of it."
A poorly prepared manager might say:
"I'm sure they don't mean anything by it."
Or:
"That's just what they're like."
Those responses can shut the conversation down immediately. As such, it's crucial that managers understand how to listen, avoid judgement, explain what they can and cannot keep confidential, follow organisational procedures and seek appropriate HR or specialist support.
These situations can be particularly challenging for managers, who may need to balance empathy, clarity and appropriate action while navigating a sensitive conversation. Developing managers' difficult conversation skills can help them approach challenging workplace discussions with greater confidence, while understanding when an issue needs to be escalated through the appropriate organisational process. Strong management training can help managers develop the communication, listening, feedback and people-management skills they need to create respectful teams, address inappropriate behaviour early and handle sensitive workplace situations with greater confidence.
A useful manager framework is:
Preventing harassment is fundamentally an employer responsibility, but employees can contribute to a respectful workplace.
Employees should know:
Bystanders can sometimes play an important role. Although it's important to stress, that does not mean employees should put themselves at risk or personally confront every situation. Depending on the circumstances, someone might challenge a comment, interrupt a situation, check in privately with a colleague, record what they witnessed or report a concern through an appropriate channel.
The key message should never be:
"Employees must stop harassment themselves."
It should be:
"You don't have to ignore inappropriate behaviour, and you should know where you can go for support."
Employers should think broadly about where work takes place.
Potential situations include:
A Christmas party in a hotel is not somehow completely disconnected from work simply because people have left the office.
Nor does a sexually inappropriate message become acceptable because it was sent through WhatsApp at 10pm rather than email at 10am.
Risk assessments should therefore reflect how employees actually work and interact, rather than focusing solely on behaviour at a desk between nine and five.
With the October 2026 changes approaching, now is a sensible time to review your arrangements.
Ask:
☐ Have we assessed where sexual harassment risks could arise?
☐ Have we specifically considered third-party risks?
☐ Is our harassment/sexual harassment policy current and accessible?
☐ Do employees understand what sexual harassment can look like?
☐ Do employees understand expected standards of behaviour?
☐ Does everybody know how to report a concern?
☐ Are there alternative reporting routes if someone's manager is involved?
☐ Do managers know how to respond when someone raises a concern?
☐ Have managers received appropriate training?
☐ Have employees received appropriate awareness training?
☐ Have we considered work socials, travel and online communications?
☐ Do we consider risks involving customers, clients, patients, contractors and other third parties?
☐ Are concerns responded to consistently and appropriately?
☐ Do we review incidents and learn from them?
☐ Do we periodically review whether our preventative measures remain effective?
This isn't intended to be a definitive legal compliance test. The steps that are reasonable will depend upon the organisation and circumstances, and further government guidance on the 2026 changes is expected.
It is, however, a useful starting point for asking:
Are we genuinely trying to prevent sexual harassment — or are we simply prepared to respond if somebody complains?
That distinction is increasingly important.
Policies and procedures only work when people feel able to use them.
Employees may hesitate to report inappropriate behaviour for many reasons. They may worry they will not be believed. They may fear being labelled difficult. The person involved may be senior. The behaviour may involve an important client. They may be unsure whether what happened was "serious enough". Or they may simply want the behaviour to stop without triggering a formal process.
This means workplace culture matters enormously.
Leaders and managers need to communicate through their behaviour that concerns will be listened to and taken seriously.
Small responses matter too.
If sexist or sexualised comments are routinely dismissed as banter, employees learn something about the culture. If senior people are excused because they "bring in a lot of business", employees learn something else. If concerns are listened to and handled appropriately, that sends a very different message.
Prevention therefore isn't only about what the policy says. It's about what the organisation tolerates, challenges and reinforces every day.
Organisations across Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall operate in very different environments, and their sexual harassment risks will not necessarily be the same. As such, our training programmes are fully customised to meet the specific needs of your working environments:
This is why effective sexual harassment training should connect with the workplace rather than simply reciting legislation.
Training for employees might explore recognising inappropriate behaviour, workplace standards, reporting, bystander awareness and third-party situations.
Training for managers should go further, helping them understand their role in prevention and practise responding appropriately when somebody raises a concern.
At Training South West, our approach is to make workplace training practical, relevant and engaging, using realistic situations to help participants understand not only what the law and organisational policy say, but what good practice looks like in everyday working life.
Preventing sexual harassment requires more than a policy and more than a response when something goes wrong. Employers need to understand their risks, set clear expectations, equip managers and employees, provide trusted reporting routes, respond appropriately and keep their approach under review.
The legal landscape is strengthening, but the underlying objective is straightforward:
Create workplaces in which people are treated with dignity and respect — and take meaningful action to reduce the risk of harassment occurring.
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