Since October 2024, UK employers have had a legal duty to actively prevent sexual harassment at work — not merely to deal with it after a complaint. That is the change most organisations have still not caught up with. Waiting for someone to come forward is no longer a defensible position, and a tribunal can now increase compensation by up to 25% where the duty has been breached.
This guide explains what sexual harassment is in law, what the new preventative duty requires, and what “reasonable steps” actually look like.
What sexual harassment is in law
Under the Equality Act 2010, sexual harassment is 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 for them.
Three points people routinely get wrong:
- Intent is irrelevant. “It was just banter” is not a defence. What matters is the effect, and whether it is reasonable for the conduct to have that effect.
- It does not need to be repeated. A single incident can amount to harassment.
- It does not need to be aimed at the complainant. Someone can be harassed by an environment — overheard comments, images on display.
The Act also covers harassment related to sex (not sexual in nature but because of someone’s sex) and less favourable treatment for rejecting or submitting to such conduct.
What it looks like in practice
Sexual comments, jokes or “banter”; unwanted touching; staring or leering; sexual images, messages or emails; intrusive questions about someone’s sex life or body; repeated unwanted romantic advances; and spreading sexual rumours.
The new preventative duty — the bit employers miss
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 introduced a positive duty on employers in Great Britain to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers.
Two things make this different from what came before:
- It is anticipatory. It bites before anything happens. You cannot satisfy it by responding well to complaints.
- It has teeth. Where a tribunal upholds a sexual harassment claim and finds the duty was breached, it can uplift compensation by up to 25%. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can also take enforcement action.
The duty also covers harassment by third parties — customers, clients, patients, contractors — which matters enormously in hospitality, retail, care and any public-facing role.
What counts as “reasonable steps”
There is no fixed checklist, and what is reasonable scales with the size and nature of the organisation. In practice it means:
- A clear anti-harassment policy that staff have actually seen and understood
- Training for all staff, and specific training for managers on how to respond to a report
- Accessible reporting routes — including a route that bypasses the person’s own manager, and a confidential option
- Taking every complaint seriously, acting promptly, and protecting the complainant from victimisation
- Risk assessing where harassment is more likely — lone working, night shifts, alcohol at work events, customer-facing roles, power imbalances
- Reviewing and updating what you do, and keeping a record of it — a policy written once and filed is not a reasonable step
This work sits alongside broader equality, diversity and inclusion duties under the same Act.
If it happens to you, or you witness it
If it is safe and you feel able, say the behaviour is unwanted and ask for it to stop. Record what happened — dates, times, what was said or done, witnesses. Report it under your organisation’s policy; if the person involved is your manager, use another route. Witnesses matter too — speaking up is part of what prevents it, and employers must not victimise anyone for raising a concern.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as sexual harassment at work?
Under the Equality Act 2010 sexual harassment is 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. It covers a wide range of behaviour — sexual comments, jokes and banter, unwanted touching, staring or leering, sending sexual images or messages, and intrusive questions about someone's sex life. It does not require intent: what matters is the effect on the person and whether it is reasonable for it to have that effect.
What is the employer's duty to prevent sexual harassment?
Since the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force, employers in Great Britain have a positive legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. This is a preventative duty, meaning it applies before anything has happened — an employer cannot simply wait for a complaint. Where an employment tribunal upholds a sexual harassment claim and finds the duty was breached, it can increase the compensation awarded by up to 25%.
What counts as reasonable steps to prevent harassment?
There is no fixed checklist, and what is reasonable depends on the size and nature of the organisation. In practice it usually includes a clear anti-harassment policy that staff actually know about, training for all staff and specific training for managers, accessible reporting routes including a way to report confidentially, taking every complaint seriously and acting on it, assessing risks such as lone working, night shifts, alcohol at work events and customer-facing roles, and reviewing what you do rather than treating a policy as a one-off task.
Is an employer liable for harassment by customers or clients?
The preventative duty covers harassment of workers by third parties such as customers, clients, patients and contractors, so employers must take reasonable steps to protect staff from it. This matters particularly in hospitality, retail, care and any public-facing role. Note that while the duty extends to third-party harassment, a worker cannot currently bring a standalone tribunal claim purely for third-party harassment — but the employer's failure to prevent it can still be examined and can increase compensation in a related claim.
What should you do if you experience or witness sexual harassment at work?
If it is safe and you feel able to, tell the person the behaviour is unwanted and ask them to stop. Record what happened with dates, times, what was said or done and any witnesses. Report it through your organisation's policy, to your manager or to HR — and if the person involved is your manager, report to someone above them or to another route in the policy. Witnesses should not stay silent: raising a concern is part of the culture that prevents harassment, and employers must not victimise anyone for complaining.
Further reading
- EHRC — Sexual harassment and harassment at work
- Acas — Sexual harassment
- Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023
Sexual harassment training
At a glance: Nexis CPD offers a £9 CPD-accredited online Sexual Harassment in the Workplace course — 100% online and self-paced, with an instant, verifiable e-certificate on passing.
Our Sexual Harassment in the Workplace course covers what the law defines as harassment, the employer’s preventative duty, third-party harassment, and how to report and respond. Training staff is one of the reasonable steps the duty expects.
Related: Equality, diversity and inclusion · Work-related stress · Safeguarding
£9 per course. CPD accredited, 100 % online, verifiable e-certificate on completion. Pay for 2, get 3 — any 3 courses for £18.
Please note: this is a CPD-accredited awareness course and general information, not legal advice. Training is one of several reasonable steps and does not by itself discharge an employer’s duty. Specific complaints or tribunal matters should be referred to a qualified employment law adviser, Acas or the EHRC. The Equality Act 2010 applies in England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland has separate legislation. It is not an Ofqual-regulated qualification.