posted 19th October 2026
The new sexual harassment laws 2026 come into force on 30th October, strengthening the responsibilities placed on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. For business owners, directors, HR professionals, and line managers, this is an important change. Employers will be expected to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, rather than simply taking "reasonable steps". The legislation will also strengthen protection against harassment by third parties, such as customers, clients, suppliers, and members of the public.
Full guidance is available on this Government Factsheet, however, much of the implementation details remains subject to consultation, with updated guidance due before commencement.
For employers, the message is clear: having a policy sitting in a folder is not enough. You need to understand where harassment risk exists within your organisation, take appropriate preventative action, and be able to demonstrate what you have done.
At Thrive HRM, we believe one of the most powerful ways to approach the new sexual harassment laws 2026 is to look beyond your paperwork and consider what actually happens during an ordinary working day.
What Exactly Are The New Sexual Harassment Laws 2026?
The new sexual harassment laws 2026 build on the preventative duty introduced in October 2024. Since 26th October 2024, employers have had a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. From 30th October this year, the Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens the requirement so employers must take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment.
It might sound like a small change in wording. In practice, that extra word, "all", matters. Acas explains that employers will be expected to take all the steps that are reasonable for their particular organisation, with the appropriate action likely to depend on the following factors:
- The size of the organisation
- The Sector
- The type of work its employees carry out
The emphasis is firmly on prevention rather than action. Waiting for an incident to happen and then dealing with it appropriately is not the same as taking steps to prevent that incident from happening in the first place.
What Does "All Reasonable Steps" Actually Mean?
This is likely to be one of the biggest questions employers have about the new sexual harassment laws 2026. Naturally, there is no single checklist that will apply identically to every organisation. What is reasonable for a smaller professional services business may be very different from what is reasonable for a care provider, manufacturer, hospitality business or organisation whose employees regularly work with members of the public.
Practical preventative measures can include carrying out robust risk assessments, implementing clear policies and procedures, engaging and communicating with staff, providing effective training, establishing multiple reporting mechanisms, monitoring effectiveness of preventative action and addressing the risks created by third parties.
The key is to think about your workplace, your people, and your risks, rather than relying on a generic policy or tick-box exercise. That leaves employers with useful work to do right now.
New Sexual Harassment Laws 2026 - Walk Your Workplace
One of the best places to start preparing for the new sexual harassment laws 2026 is to walk through a normal working day. Ask yourself where your employees actually work and who they interact with, because sexual harassment does not only happen between colleagues sitting in the same office. It can arise on a production line, during a customer call, at a client's premises, in somebody's home, at a work event, during business travel, or in a work-related WhatsApp group, and that's just a few examples.
One of the best places to start preparing for the new sexual harassment laws 2026 is to walk through a normal working day.
Ask yourself where your employees actually work and who they interact with.
Sexual harassment does not only happen between colleagues sitting in the same office. It can arise on a production line, during a customer call, at a client's premises, in somebody's home, at a work event, during business travel or in a work-related WhatsApp group.
Let's look at a typical day:
| Time & place | What happens | The question for the employer |
| 08:10 – Goods-in | A delivery driver repeatedly comments on an employee’s appearance. The employee laughs it off because other people are waiting. | Has the team been told what to do when the person causing concern does not work for the business? |
| 11:30 – Customer call | A client makes a remark about a worker’s race and asks to deal with “someone else”. The manager wants to protect the account. | Does the commercial escalation process protect the employee as clearly as it protects the customer relationship? |
| 15:45 – Team WhatsApp | A sexual image is posted to a chat used for shift changes. Several people see it, but nobody responds. | Are work-related digital spaces included in your risk assessment, policy and reporting routes? |
| 19:00 – Work event | A supplier becomes intrusive after drinking. The most junior person in the group is left to manage the situation. | Who has responsibility at work events, and can they remove an employee from the situation without argument or career cost? |
These examples demonstrate why preparing for the new sexual harassment laws 2026 need to go beyond updating policy. Risks can arise through customers, suppliers and contractors, as well as colleagues. Incidents can occur online, off-site, and at work-related events. Your approach may therefore need to involve rostering, supervision, customer management, procurement, IT, events, training and management decision-making.
Start At The Front Door
To comply with the new sexual harassment laws 2026, let's start at the front door. Reception teams, security staff, salespeople, drivers, field engineers ,care workers, hospitality teams, and anyone working on a client site might meet people the employer does not manager directly (third-party risks). A policy written only around colleague-to-colleague conduct leaves a sizeable gap now in your companies policies.
Consider all of the following:
• Who deals with customers, patients, service users, visitors, contractors and suppliers?
• Where do people work alone, late, off-site or without a manager nearby?
• Which roles are expected to absorb poor behaviour to preserve a sale, service or relationship?
• Can an employee end an interaction, leave a location or pass a caller to somebody else?
• What happens to the customer or contractor relationship after a report?
What could you implement to demonstrate "all reasonable steps"?
- A customer notice.
- Contract terms.
- Supplier standards.
- Lone-working arrangements.
- Escalation scripts.
- The right to withdraw service.
What is appropriate in one setting, may not be relevant in another. However, in all cases, the response needs to fit the risk.
Look Beyond Office Walls
Preparing for the new sexual harassment laws 2026 also means thinking beyond the physical workplace. Work-related conduct can arise during travel, conferences, training, client entertainment, Christmas parties, overnight stays and online conversations.
Digital communication is a particularly vulnerable area. Official Microsoft Teams or Slack channels might be appropriately monitored and managed, but what about an unofficial WhatsApp group used by the team every day?
What about private messages following a work event? Have you considered remote workers encountering harassment on video calls? Do they know when and how to raise a concern?
The review should record:
- Work-related messaging groups and who administers them;
- Off-site, lone-working and overnight arrangements;
- Regular events where alcohol is available;
- Shared workplaces and client premises;
- Interfaces between employees, temporary workers, contractors and partner organisations;
- Reporting options for people who cannot safely approach their immediate manager.
Consider What Happens When Someone Reports A Concern
Your preparation for the new sexual harassment laws 2026 should also include reviewing what happens in the first few minutes after an employee raises a concern.
A beautifully written policy can quickly become meaningless if a manager responds badly when someone says: "Can I have A Quiet Word?" Whilst managers do not need to launch an investigation there and then, they do, however, need to know how to:
- Listen
- Avoid blame
- consider immediate safety and welfare needs
- Maintain confidentiality as far as possible
- Explain what will happen next
They also need to know when to escalate the issue and where to obtain support.
This is why effective management training should go beyond presenting slides about what sexual harassment means. Managers need an opportunity to work through realistic scenarios:
- What happens if the alleged harasser is a senior employee?
- What if it is your biggest customer?
- How do they respond if the employee does not want to make a formal complaint?
- What if a report is anonymous?
Giving managers the opportunity to think through situations before they happen can make a significant difference when they are faced with a real concern.
Don't Overlook The Warning Signs
Formal grievances are not the only place to look when assessing your organisation's risk ahead of the new sexual harassment laws 2026. Consider the quieter information your business already collects.
- Exit interviews
- Employee Surveys
- Sickness and absence patterns
- Customer complaints
- Supervision notes
- Requests to change shifts
- Requests not to work with a particular person
Each of these provide useful information. Of course, that does not mean that every concern should be treated as proven harassment. It does mean employers should be alert to patterns forming:
Does the same client keep appearing in complaints?
Are employees regularly asking to avoid a particular shift, location or colleague?
Has an issue been dismissed as “banter” more than once?
Remember, a risk assessment should be a living process. If your organisation receives information that identifies a potential risk, consider what reasonable preventative action can be taken.
What Should Employers Do Before 30th October 2026
With the new sexual harassment laws 2026 fast approaching, your duty as an employer is to review your organisation's position.
Walk the workplace and carry out a practical risk assessment. Consider different roles ,locations, working times, events, digital channels, and third-party interactions. Identify higher-risk situations and document the controls you have in place.
Review your policies. They must explain harassment, sexual harassment, and victimisation in language employees understand. They should address conduct involving colleagues and third parties, as well as work-related online spaces, travel, and social events.
Look closely at your reporting arrangements. Employees should have more than one safe way to raise concerns, including an alternative route if their immediate manager is involved.
We cannot under-emphasis the importance of training. All employees should understand expected standards of behaviour and know how to report a concern. Managers need additional training to build confidence in receiving, recording, and escalating reports appropriately.
Likewise, you should also consider your relationships with customer, suppliers, agencies, and contractors. Depending on the risks within your organisation, this could mean reviewing contract terms, supplier standards, customer notices, escalation procedures, or arrangements that allow employees to remove themselves from difficult situations.
Finally, keep a record of what you have done. A dated risk assessment, action log, current policies, training records, reporting arrangements, and evidence of periodic reviews can help demonstrate that your organisation has actively considered its risk and taken action - "all reasonable steps".
Remember, the new sexual harassment law 2026 is about what happens in practice, not simply what exists on paper.
Why Employers Should Act Now
Whilst 30th October might feel like a deadline for HR, preparing for the new sexual harassment laws 2026 is wider than any HR policy exercise. It touches management, operations, procurement, customer relationships, events, IT, communications and workplace culture.
The sooner you start, the more opportunity you have to identify gaps and address them properly rather than rushing through a compliance exercise immediately before legislation takes effect.
Ask yourself a simple question: "If an employee raised a concern tomorrow, could you demonstrate the steps your organisation has already taken to try to prevent it?
If the answer is unclear, now is the time to review your position.
How Can Thrive HRM help you prepare for the New Sexual Harassment Laws 2026?
At Thrive HRM, we can help employers prepare practically for the new sexual harassment laws 2026. We ill look at the workplace you actually operate rather than relying on a generic checklist. Our harassment-prevention readiness review can consider your risk assessment, policies, reporting routes, manager response, third-party controls, and the actions your senior team should prioritise.
We will look at your people, customers, sites, shifts, working arrangements, digital channels, and management capacity to help identify where improvements may be needed.
The objective is not simply to have another policy folder. It is to help you build a workplace in which expectations are clear, managers know what to do, employees know where to turn, and your organisation can demonstrate a considered, preventative approach.
If you are unsure whether your business is ready for 30th October 2026, speak to Thrive HRM consultancy services about a harassment-prevention readiness review.
This article provides general HR information and is not legal advice. The implementation of employment legislation and supporting guidance can change. Employers should check the latest legislation and current Acas and EHRC guidance and obtain appropriate professional or legal advice where required.
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