The New Duty to Prevent
Workplace Harassment:
Is Your Organisation Ready?
On 30 October 2026, employers face stronger legal duties to prevent sexual harassment and protect workers from third-party harassment.
30 October 2026: The Employment Rights Act 2025 raises the standard from "reasonable steps" to "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment — and introduces new obligations on third-party harassment.
For hospitality, licensed premises, retail, transport, events, festivals, cultural venues and the wider night-time economy, this is a significant change.
On 30 October 2026, employers across England, Scotland and Wales will face stronger legal duties to prevent workplace harassment. The Employment Rights Act 2025 raises the existing preventative duty from requiring employers to take "reasonable steps" to requiring them to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment.
It also introduces a new obligation on employers not to permit their employees to be harassed by third parties — including customers, clients, contractors, suppliers, patients and members of the public.
The legal direction is clear. Having a policy sitting in a folder or asking employees to complete a training course once will not, by itself, demonstrate that an employer has taken all reasonable steps. Organisations will need to show that they have properly considered the risks within their workplace, introduced practical measures to address them, trained their people, responded effectively to concerns and reviewed whether their approach is working.
The Legal Change
What is changing on 30 October 2026?
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force on 26 October 2024. It placed a positive legal duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment. This was an important shift — employers were no longer expected simply to respond when an incident occurred.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens that duty further. From 30 October 2026, employers will be expected to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The inclusion of the word "all" raises the standard expected of employers and increases the importance of being able to evidence why particular measures were identified, introduced and reviewed.
The Act also creates an obligation on employers not to permit harassment of employees by third parties. A third party might be a customer sexually harassing a member of bar staff, a passenger racially abusing a taxi driver, a patient making homophobic comments to a healthcare worker or a guest targeting event security because of their religion or disability.
The protection against third-party harassment is wider than sexual harassment alone — it can include harassment related to any protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
The changes apply in England, Scotland and Wales. Employment equality law is devolved in Northern Ireland.
Why It Matters
Why is this so important?
Harassment can have a profound effect on an individual's confidence, mental health, physical wellbeing and ability to remain in employment. It can also become embedded within workplace culture when inappropriate conduct is dismissed as banter, treated as an unavoidable part of customer-facing work or left for employees to manage themselves.
No employee should be expected to accept harassment because they work behind a bar, drive a taxi, staff a train, manage a venue or deal directly with the public. A customer is not entitled to behave however they choose simply because they are spending money.
For employers, the consequences of failing to act are significant. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can take enforcement action where an employer has failed to meet the preventative duty. If an employee succeeds in a sexual harassment claim and an Employment Tribunal finds the preventative duty was breached, compensation can currently be increased by up to 25%.
There are wider organisational consequences too. Poorly handled harassment contributes to sickness absence, staff turnover, recruitment difficulties, low morale, reputational damage and a loss of trust in management. When employees believe that reporting an incident will lead to them being ignored, blamed or removed from a shift, they are far less likely to speak up.
The Standard
What does "all reasonable steps" mean in practice?
The precise steps expected will depend on an organisation's size, resources, workforce, operating model and the risks employees encounter. However, employers should not wait for final guidance before beginning preparations.
The starting point is understanding where harassment could occur. A generic office risk assessment is unlikely to reflect the realities of a nightclub, restaurant, taxi operation, railway station, festival, theatre or late-night retail business.
Examine actual employee experiences — lone working, closing procedures, back-of-house spaces, agency employment, digital communications and situations involving power over shifts, tips or progression.
Speak to employees, review previous reports, analyse anonymous feedback and consider exit interview information. An absence of formal complaints should never be assumed to mean harassment is not taking place.
Change staffing arrangements, improve lighting or security, introduce clearer escalation procedures, identify trained people on every shift and establish how third parties will be warned, removed or banned.
Document what you have done, why you have done it and how the effectiveness of measures will be reviewed. Employers may need to demonstrate not only that training existed, but that it changed behaviour.
Policies
Policies must reflect the real workplace
A workplace harassment policy should be clear, accessible and relevant to the organisation. It should explain what harassment and sexual harassment can look like — including examples employees will recognise from their own working environment.
The policy should cover conduct by colleagues, managers, contractors, customers, clients, suppliers and members of the public. It should explain how employees can report an incident, who they can speak to if their line manager is involved, how confidentiality will be handled and what action the organisation may take.
A policy that promises zero tolerance but leaves an employee serving the same customer who has just harassed them will quickly lose credibility. The written commitment and the operational response must match.
Policies should also be communicated properly. Relevant expectations should also be communicated to customers, suppliers and delivery partners through signage, terms and conditions, contracts, booking information or codes of conduct.
Training
Training must create practical confidence
Training is a central part of demonstrating that an employer has taken preventative action, but its effectiveness will depend on its content, delivery and relevance.
Reporting & Response
Reporting, responding and reviewing
Employees must have safe, accessible ways to report harassment. Wherever possible, there should be more than one reporting route so that workers are not dependent on a single manager. Organisations should consider anonymous reporting, particularly in workplaces where employees fear losing shifts, tips, opportunities or future work.
Every report should be taken seriously, handled sensitively and documented appropriately. The organisation should make clear that retaliation or victimisation will not be tolerated.
Individual incidents should also inform wider prevention. If reports repeatedly involve the same location, shift, customer group or working practice, the organisation should respond to the pattern rather than treating each incident in isolation.
NTES Academy
How NTES Academy can help
NTES Academy provides specialist training designed for the realities of public-facing, hospitality, licensed, transport, cultural, events and night-time economy workplaces. The training is delivered online through flexible, narrated courses accessible 24/7.
Helps employers and workers understand their legal responsibilities, recognise sexual harassment, identify risks and take practical preventative action.
Gives employees the confidence and tools to recognise problematic behaviour and intervene safely without placing themselves at further risk.
Anti-sexual harassment, workplace harassment, third-party harassment, reporting and response policies written to reflect your actual operating environment and workforce.
Act Now
Do not wait until October
The strengthened legal duties take effect on 30 October 2026, but organisations should begin preparing now. Understanding workplace risks, consulting employees, updating policies, training teams and embedding new procedures takes time.
The question employers may ultimately need to answer is not simply whether they had a policy or whether staff completed a course. It is whether they identified every reasonable step available to them, acted on those steps and checked that they were making a difference.
NTES Academy can help organisations assess their current position, train their workforce and put the policies and practical systems in place to meet the strengthened duties. To discuss Worker Protection Act, anti-sexual harassment or bystander intervention training, or to request support with your organisation's policies, contact Night Time Economy Solutions.
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