Worker Protection Duty: What UK Employers Need to Know

Since 26 October 2024, every employer in the United Kingdom has been subject to a new legal duty, the obligation to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment.

This is not a soft expectation. It is a statutory duty introduced by the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, which came into force in October 2024. Employment tribunals can now increase compensation awards by up to 25% where an employer is found to have breached this preventative duty.

If you have not assessed your workplace risks and taken reasonable preventative steps, you may have a compliance gap. Documentation can be important evidence, but the statutory duty is to take reasonable steps, not merely to possess a prescribed set of documents.

The 2023 Act added a specific preventative duty. It sits alongside existing Equality Act protections and employer liability rules rather than replacing an entirely reactive legal framework.

The 2024 Act made the duty proactive. Employers must now demonstrate that they took reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment before any incident occurs. The question a tribunal will ask is not just “what did you do after the complaint?” but “what did you have in place to stop it happening in the first place?”

This is a fundamental shift in how workplace harassment law works in the UK.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published technical guidance identifying the reasonable steps employers are expected to take. These include:

1. A clear, up-to-date policy. EHRC guidance expects employers to have an effective policy that reflects their risks, explains prohibited conduct, sets out reporting routes and explains how complaints will be handled. Whether this is a standalone document or integrated into wider policies should be judged by whether the overall arrangements are effective.
2. A workplace risk assessment. EHRC guidance recommends assessing the specific risks of sexual harassment in the workplace, including factors such as lone working, night shifts, client facing roles, third-party interactions and power dynamics, and recording the preventative actions identified.
3. Staff training. Provide appropriate training so employees understand what sexual harassment is, how to report it and how the organisation will respond. Keeping proportionate records can help evidence what training was delivered, when and to whom.
4. A formal reporting procedure. Staff must have clear, accessible routes to report harassment: including options that don’t involve their direct line manager where that person may be implicated.
5. Third-party harassment controls. EHRC guidance confirms the preventative duty covers sexual harassment of your staff by third parties too: clients, customers, contractors, and visitors, not just colleagues. From 30 October 2026, this becomes a standalone duty under the Employment Rights Act 2025 covering all forms of harassment, not only sexual, so it's worth building policies to that wider standard now.

All of them. There is no size threshold. Whether you employ two people or two thousand, the preventative duty applies from day one of employment.

Sectors with particular exposure include healthcare and care services (lone working, overnight shifts, client facing roles, power imbalances with service users and families), hospitality and retail (high third-party contact, junior staff, alcohol-related environments), recruitment and staffing (candidate-facing work, home visits, off-site activity), professional services (client entertainment, conferences, work-related social events), and any sector with remote or lone workers (reduced visibility, limited immediate support).

Employment tribunal uplift: Where a tribunal finds that an employer breached the preventative duty, it can increase any compensation award by up to 25%. Given that tribunal awards for harassment claims can run to tens of thousands of pounds, this uplift is significant.

EHRC enforcement: The Equality and Human Rights Commission has the power to investigate employers and take enforcement action, including issuing unlawful act notices, where it finds evidence of systematic non-compliance.

Reputational damage: Harassment cases that reach tribunal are public. For small businesses, a single high-profile case can be devastating to client relationships, recruitment, and brand reputation.

Insurance implications: Some employers’ liability insurers are beginning to ask about harassment prevention policies as part of underwriting. Absence of documentation can affect both coverage and premiums.

There is no universal statutory five-document checklist. Depending on your organisation and risks, a practical evidence set can include:

1. Sexual Harassment Risk Assessment: specific to your workplace, working patterns, and risk profile
2. Anti-Harassment Policy: standalone, up-to-date, covering all forms of harassment including third-party
3. Third-Party Harassment Policy: specifically addressing harassment by clients, customers, contractors, and visitors
4. Harassment Reporting Procedure: clear, accessible, with multiple reporting routes
5. Training Record Template: to document that training has been delivered and to whom

Documents should reflect your actual business and risks. A generic template on its own is unlikely to evidence the preventative steps your organisation actually identified and took.

Healthcare and care services can present workplace factors that an employer may need to assess carefully, including lone working, night shifts, contact with service users and relatives, reduced management visibility, power imbalances and a mix of permanent, agency or bank staff. The relevant question is which of those factors are present in your organisation and what preventative steps are reasonable in response.

If you operate in healthcare or care services, your risk assessment and controls should reflect the risks that actually arise in your setting rather than assuming a generic policy is enough.

From 30 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 raises the bar from 'reasonable steps' to 'all reasonable steps,' and introduces a standalone duty not to permit harassment of your staff by third parties, covering all forms of harassment, not just sexual. If you're putting documentation in place now, it's worth building it to the higher standard from the outset rather than revisiting it in six weeks.

The preventative duty is already in force. Documentation can help evidence compliance, but the legal requirement is to take the preventative steps that are reasonable in the circumstances, not simply to possess a particular document set.

Clausely’s Worker Protection Pack generates five tailored compliance documents for your business, including a Sexual Harassment Risk Assessment based on the sector, working patterns and risk information you provide.