Preventing sexual harassment at work resources for employers
Preventing sexual harassment at work: is your organisation ready for October 2026? Download this checklist to review the risks specific to your organisation and prepare for 30 October 2026 changes under the Employment Rights Act.
Is your organisation ready for October 2026?
If you updated your policy and delivered training when the preventative duty arrived in 2024, now is the time to check what has happened since.
From 30 October 2026, the duty is due to strengthen. Employers will need to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment at work, alongside new protections against third-party harassment.
For employers, that means looking beyond whether policies and training exist and considering whether preventative measures are appropriate for the risks within the organisation, working effectively in practice and being reviewed.
What should employers review now?
Use the checklist to assess your organisation across six key areas:
- Workplace risks: Review the sexual harassment risks specific to your organisation, workforce and working environment.
- Preventative measures: Assess the measures you already have in place and whether they are working effectively in practice.
- Gaps and actions: Identify where further action may be needed to strengthen your approach.
- Ownership: Give outstanding actions a clear owner and completion date.
- Evidence: Record the action you have taken and how you can demonstrate that preventative measures have been implemented.
- Ongoing review: Build regular review into your approach so preventative measures continue to reflect your organisation’s risks.
The checklist has been prepared by Halborns, Empowering People Group’s employment law team.
More resources to help prevent sexual harassment at work
Effective prevention isn’t just a policy exercise. Employers need to consider workplace risks, policies and processes, employee awareness, manager capability and how concerns are managed in practice. Explore these practical resources from across Empowering People Group.
Sexual harassment and HR policy support
Make sure your policies reflect your organisation’s needs and provide employees and managers with clear guidance on expected behaviour and how concerns should be handled.
Discuss requirements for policy support →
Give your people practical training
Preventing sexual harassment at work eLearning
Help employees recognise sexual harassment, understand how to raise concerns and apply their learning through practical scenarios. The digital learning also provides completion reporting to help organisations evidence training.
Explore our Preventing sexual harassment at work eLearning →
Build manager confidence
De-risking accidental managers under the Employment Rights Act
Managers have an important role in creating the right workplace culture and responding appropriately when issues arise.
Watch our on-demand webinar exploring how organisations can give managers greater ownership while providing the right guidance, guardrails and specialist escalation.
Watch the De-risking accidental managers webinar →
Get answers to employers’ questions
Preventing sexual harassment: 18 employer questions answered
Explore practical questions about the strengthened preventative duty, including risk assessments, policies, reporting routes, training and third-party risks.
Strengthen your employee relations approach
See empower® in action
Preventing and managing workplace harassment effectively requires the right processes.
Our Employee Relations as a Service (ERaaS) approach brings together empower® employee relations technology with outsourced HR advice, helping managers handle employee relations confidently while giving HR greater visibility of cases, trends and emerging areas of risk.
Find out more about empower® and our ERaaS approach →
Need support?
Whether you’re reviewing workplace risks, updating policies, strengthening manager capability or training your people, Empowering People Group brings together employment law, HR, employee relations technology and learning expertise to support employers.
Download checklist