From 30 October 2026, the duty on employers to prevent harassment will be strengthened, requiring employers to take "all" reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and harassment of employees by third parties. "All" is an extremely inflexible and unforgiving standard. Employers that fail to comply face potential enforcement action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and a 25% uplift in compensation in successful Employment Tribunal claims.
The difficulty, however, is that while the new duties are now imminent, employers have been given remarkably little practical guidance on what compliance will actually require. Although the government's power to make regulations specifying the steps employers must take comes into force on 30 October 2026, the regulations themselves are not expected for some time (perhaps not until 2027/2028).
Employers therefore face the unenviable task of complying with a demanding legal standard before being told in detail what that standard requires (which seems to go against a fairly fundamental principle of good law).
As such, this seems an opportune moment to reissue our Relatively Informal Guide, updated to reflect the new duties. In putting it together, we have drawn on the current guidance and, where necessary, made what we hope are sensible assumptions as to the direction any future regulations and guidance may take. As ever, it remains entirely non-statutory, non-official and non-approved, but nonetheless we hope it provides a useful practical starting point. Do let us know what you think.
