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Preparing for the new third-party harassment duty

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2 September 2026

From October 2026, employers face a new legal obligation to prevent their staff from being harassed by third parties. What does this new duty mean in practice and, crucially, what steps should businesses take now to prepare?

What is the new duty?

01
What is the new duty?
02
How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?
03
What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?
04
Why taking action on complaints matters
05
What can employers do now to prepare?

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, employers will soon be legally responsible for protecting their employees from harassment by third parties in the course of their employment, including customers, clients, suppliers, service users, visitors and members of the public.

Under the new duty, an employer will have "permitted" third-party harassment where a third party harasses an employee during the course of their employment and the employer failed to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent it.

Critically, this new duty covers harassment relating to all relevant protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, including age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and so on. It is not limited to sexual harassment.

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

01
What is the new duty?
02
How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?
03
What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?
04
Why taking action on complaints matters
05
What can employers do now to prepare?

There is already a separate, existing duty in place which requires employers to take "reasonable steps" to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment. That duty came into force in October 2024, and the EHRC’s technical guidance and Code of Practice have made clear this includes sexual harassment from third parties. From October 2026, that duty is also being strengthened by upgrading the standard from "reasonable steps" to "all reasonable steps", bringing it into line with this new, broader third-party harassment duty.

That means that, from October 2026, employers will be operating under two related but distinct obligations: the upgraded sexual harassment preventative duty (all reasonable steps, including in relation to third parties) and the new, broader third-party harassment duty (all relevant protected characteristics). Both sit alongside each other, and compliance work done for one will frequently support compliance with the other.

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

01
What is the new duty?
02
How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?
03
What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?
04
Why taking action on complaints matters
05
What can employers do now to prepare?

This is the central question, and the honest but lawyerly answer is that ‘it depends’. The concept of "all reasonable steps" is not a fixed checklist. It is inherently contextual and will be assessed by reference to the particular employer, their sector, their workforce and the nature and extent of third-party interaction their employees face. For example, when considering how different the picture looks across different sectors and workplaces:

A hospitality business whose staff regularly interact with customers and members of the public, often in social environments involving alcohol, late nights and heightened emotions, will need to think very carefully about practical and physical protections, staff support protocols, how incidents are reported and communications with customers.
A corporate or professional services business operating in a largely corporate office environment, where face-to-face third-party contact is more structured and predictable, will face a different risk profile and may reasonably focus on contractual protections with clients, internal training and clear escalation procedures.

The government has acknowledged that the level of control an employer has over the way third parties interact with its staff is inherently more limited than the control it has over colleague-to-colleague behaviour. With that in mind, it has stated that the expectations on employers in preventing third-party harassment will be set lower than those applying to internal, employee-to-employee harassment.

Ultimately, what constitutes “all reasonable steps” will depend on the specific circumstances of the employer, including their size, resources, working environment, and other relevant facts. Future regulations from the government specifying steps that will be regarded as “reasonable” for the purposes of both the sexual harassment duty and the new third-party duty are anticipated (likely to be published in 2027). In the meantime, we can draw on the guidance available from the EHRC relating to the existing sexual harassment duty as much of that can be read across to this new third-party duty.

Why taking action on complaints matters

01
What is the new duty?
02
How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?
03
What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?
04
Why taking action on complaints matters
05
What can employers do now to prepare?

Putting policies and processes in place is one thing. Applying them consistently and rigorously is another - and it is here that employers may face their greatest practical challenge.

If an employee reports an incident of third-party harassment and the employer takes no action, and the same behaviour subsequently happens again, the employer will be in a very difficult position if asked to explain what reasonable steps it took to prevent the recurrence. This may be a particularly sensitive issue if the third party is someone of significance to the business, such as a major client, a key supplier, a regulator, a shareholder or an investor, where the commercial or reputational stakes may feel high. However, inaction will rarely satisfy an employment tribunal.

What can employers do now to prepare?

01
What is the new duty?
02
How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?
03
What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?
04
Why taking action on complaints matters
05
What can employers do now to prepare?

The new third-party duty is expected to come into force in October 2026. In advance of that milestone, below is a checklist of preparatory steps employers can consider taking:

Conduct a risk assessment: Map where, how and with which third parties your employees interact, and assess the nature and level of risk in each context. If you are already doing this as part of your compliance with the existing sexual harassment duty, you will be familiar with the process, and this is about broadening that exercise to cover all protected characteristics and all relevant third-party interactions.
Produce an action plan: Once risks are identified, document what preventative steps you will take to address them and how those steps will be monitored and evaluated over time. Again, if you have been working through this exercise in the context of the sexual harassment duty, you will have a head start.
Notify third parties in advance: Set expectations clearly. This might involve updating your terms and conditions or contracts, displaying notices to customers, including appropriate language in pre-event or pre-visit communications or reviewing standard contractual terms with suppliers and service providers.
Review reporting and complaints procedures: Make sure employees know how to report an incident, what will happen when they do and that they will be supported throughout the process. Ensure managers know how to receive and handle a complaint and that the business has a clear process for investigation and follow-up action.
Training: Training should be practical, tailored and targeted, with particular focus on those parts of the business where the risk of third-party harassment is highest. It should cover what third-party harassment looks like, how to respond in the moment and how to report it. Manager training is especially important given the responsibilities managers carry in identifying and responding to incidents.
Review policies: Review and consider updating existing policies to reflect the new duty and the company’s expectations around such behaviours and conduct. For example, consider whether existing anti-sexual harassment policies should be extended to cover other types of harassment and/or where harassment policies and other reporting procedures should outline the approach to reporting and investigating third-party harassment.
Monitoring and evaluation: Put in place processes to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the steps you have taken, track incidents and near-misses, identify patterns and implement changes where the evidence suggests your approach is not working. Compliance is not a one-off exercise: it requires ongoing attention.

Third-party harassment is a complex and developing area of law, and getting it right requires a properly joined-up approach across multiple business divisions, including HR, legal, senior and mid-level management. If you have any questions about what the new duty means for your business, please get in touch with a member of our employment team.

Authors and Key Contacts

Laurie Ollivent

Senior Associate and Head of Client Training & Development (Employment), London

United Kingdom

Preparing for the new third-party harassment duty

What is the new duty?

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

​

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

​

​

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

​

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

​

​

Why taking action on complaints matters

​

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

​

​

What can employers do now to prepare?

​

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

​

​

Authors and Key Contacts

Laurie Ollivent

​

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Preparing for the new third-party harassment duty

​

​

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

What can employers do now to prepare?

What is the new duty?

How does this relate to the existing duty on sexual harassment?

What do “all reasonable steps” actually mean?

Why taking action on complaints matters

What can employers do now to prepare?

Authors and Key Contacts