Acas sets 30 October start for stronger harassment duties

From 30 October 2026, Acas says organisations will need to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment from third parties and sexual harassment. Employers will face liability where a third party harasses a worker in the course of employment and the employer has failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent itAcas. The separate duty to prevent sexual harassment will also require all reasonable steps, strengthening the existing reasonable-steps standardLegislation.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 sets out the two changes for England, Wales and ScotlandLegislation. Its third-party provision prohibits an employer from permitting harassment of an employee. The statutory test requires both harassment in the course of that person’s employment and a failure by the employer to take all reasonable steps to prevent itLegislation. A third party is someone other than the employer or one of its employees; Acas gives customers, clients and members of the public as examples.

The Act’s terminology covers more than conventional employment contracts. Under the Equality Act’s employment definition, it includes apprenticeships and contracts personally to do work. The third-party protection includes sexual harassment. Separately, the strengthened preventive duty concerns sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment.

Employers already have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by third parties. Acas says they must assess risks and put measures in place before an incident occurs, and act to prevent recurrence if one has happened. Its guidance identifies lone meetings with clients, alcohol, work social events, power imbalances and work travel as possible risk factors.

For preparation, Acas recommends considering the organisation’s size, resources, work, previous incidents and frequency of contact with third parties when deciding what steps are reasonable. There is no universal checklist. Possible measures include clear behaviour standards, reporting routes, ways to obtain help quickly, staff and manager training, and regular review of policies and training effectiveness.

The new third-party rule sits alongside existing vicarious liability for discrimination by an employer’s own staff. That existing rule can apply to work-linked conduct outside the workplace, including work parties and social media. An employer can defend such a claim by showing it took all reasonable steps to prevent the conduct or conduct of that description.

Section 20 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 inserts “all” before “reasonable steps” in section 40A(1) of the Equality Act 2010Legislation, and section 21 inserts the third-party prohibition and its conditions into section 40 of that Act.