Duty to Prevent Sexual Harassment Enters a New Era for UK Employers
September 10th 2026 | Posted by Jo Thompson
The duty to prevent sexual harassment is about to get a lot more demanding for UK employers. That was the message from Vicky Roberts, an employment lawyer and learning and development consultant at Lead ER, during a recent HR Recruit virtual boardroom that walked leaders through a run of legal changes landing across 2026 and what they actually mean for day-to-day management.
“There’s been a shift in what’s expected of organisations, and therefore in what we need our leaders to be aligned to.”
Why the Duty to Prevent Sexual Harassment Is Changing
Roberts opened by laying out a timeline that most HR teams will already be tracking in pieces but rarely see joined up. A new criminal offence covering sex-based harassment in public came into force on 1 April 2026. On 29 June 2026, a related provision made employers liable for a senior manager’s criminal acts committed during their employment.
Then, from 30 October 2026, the existing duty to take reasonable steps is replaced by a tougher duty to take all reasonable steps. Third party harassment liability also arrives on that date, non-disclosure agreements that try to exclude harassment claims become void, and the limitation period for bringing a claim double from three months to six.
What All Reasonable Steps Looks Like in Practice
To help leaders picture what “all” actually adds to the existing duty, Roberts introduced a prevention cycle built around five stages:
- Understanding the risks through staff surveys, employee resource groups and honest conversations about where harassment is most likely to occur.
- Setting culture and expectations with regular training and clear zero tolerance messaging, refreshed often enough that it doesn’t go stale.
- Making it safe to speak up, including anonymous reporting routes and a visible record of how concerns are handled.
- Responding properly when something happens, through fair investigations and consistent disciplinary action.
- Learning and improving by feeding complaints data and survey results straight back into the risk assessment.
She was clear that most organisations already have the mechanics in place. The gap, in her view, sits with leaders who aren’t yet spotting the warning signs early enough to act on them.
Leadership Behaviour Behind the Policy
A big part of the session focused on judgement calls rather than paperwork. Roberts used a simple grid plotting intent against harm, from accidental comments through to deliberate conduct, to help leaders decide when a quiet, informal conversation is enough and when something needs to move into a formal process. Getting that call wrong in either direction, she warned, undermines confidence in the whole system.
“Training can become stale if it’s not regularly updated and evaluated to make sure it’s actually doing what it needs to do.”
Handling Harassment by Third Parties
The final section tackled a problem many leaders find genuinely uncomfortable, which is challenging a customer, supplier or regulator whose behaviour crosses the line. Roberts used David Rock’s SCARF model, covering status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness, to explain why senior leaders often hesitate to speak up when a valuable relationship is at stake, and how naming that fear openly makes it easier to act on.
In Summary
This boardroom gave HR professionals and senior leaders a practical route through a fast-moving set of legal changes. From the new criminal offence to the shift towards all reasonable steps, Roberts showed how policy only works when leadership behaviour keeps pace with it, whether that means spotting early warning signs, choosing the right level of response or having the confidence to challenge a third party.
