In brief
From October 2026, the existing duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent workplace sexual harassment will become more demanding, requiring employers to instead take all reasonable steps. This change forms part of the Employment Rights Act reforms.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published research examining how workplace harassment can be identified and which interventions are most likely to prevent it. Its evidence-based analysis of potential interventions should help employers review their harassment risk assessments and related preventative measures ahead of the October 2026 change. For financial services employers, there are parallels with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) increasing focus on non-financial misconduct, including bullying, harassment and discrimination as indicators of workplace culture and individual fitness and propriety.
Recommended actions
- Review existing risk assessments and, where necessary, update the risks identified for the workforce. Consider whether the measures taken - and documented - to mitigate those risks meet the new higher bar.
- Ensure training programmes are regular, and to the extent possible, interactive. Consider tailoring the training for different groups (in particular senior leaders and middle management) and decide on the most strategic method for rollout.
- Consider embedding interventions into the organisation’s governance and performance management frameworks.
- Financial services firms should consider how these measures align with non-financial misconduct expectations, including regulatory reporting, fitness and propriety assessments, and conduct rule breach analysis, where relevant.
In more detail
What changes in October 2026?
In order to satisfy the requirement to take all reasonable steps, employers will need to demonstrate that they have considered the full range of reasonable preventative measures available for each identified risk and implemented all those that are appropriate for their organisation. A tribunal is likely to ask not only whether reasonable action was taken, but whether there were additional reasonable steps that could and should have been taken.
Under the existing legislation, if an employer fails to take reasonable steps: (1) the EHRC can take enforcement action; and (2) if an employee successfully brings a claim of sexual harassment against their employer, the tribunal must consider whether the employer has complied with the preventative duty, and if it hasn’t, can increase the amount of compensation due to the individual by up to 25%. The enforcement mechanisms will remain the same post-October 2026, but employers will be judged according to the higher standard.
Key takeaways from the EHRC’s new research
The EHRC published research in June 2026 following a rapid evidence review. It examined both the drivers of workplace harassment and the interventions most likely to create meaningful organisational change.
Importantly, the research reinforces a point many employers have historically underestimated: workplace harassment is rarely just an individual misconduct issue. Instead, it is often linked to organisational factors such as culture, power imbalances and leadership behaviours. Its observations include the following:
- Senior leaders are critical to achieving cultural change. Consider embedding interventions into management structures and governance, for example by reflecting equality or anti-harassment ambitions in performance management and career development targets, so that successors continue to prioritise them. Consider rolling out interactive behaviour-based training.
- Middle managers and supervisors are often workers' first point of contact. Consider rolling out tailored training to model healthy behaviour, explain how to deal with harassment and support change initiatives more widely. Mentorship and accreditation schemes based on anti-harassment goals can also increase compliance and motivation within these groups.
- Consider how best to use subjective and objective organisational data to identify risk and support the case for change. It is unlikely to be sufficient to base a risk assessment solely on complaints received. For example, think about combining staff climate surveys, internal focus groups, staff turnover, progression, and absence metrics.
- Ensure that the roll out of training is strategic. Harassment can embed differently depending on the power dynamics or leadership styles in different teams, sites and levels. Training should be tailored, ideally interactive (although this can be time consuming to roll out) and introduced from the top down. Bystander training has also been found to be effective.
- Policies should be refreshed regularly and repeatedly brought to the attention of the workforce. Staff should be given at least two reporting routes.
- Beware a “checkbox” mentality in your organisation towards compliance – focusing on only reputational or financial risk and not cultural change can limit the efficacy of change programmes.
- Financial services firms: These points should be read alongside the FCA’s non-financial misconduct (NFM) agenda. NFM will be addressed through a new rule in the Code of Conduct (COCON), alongside the existing Fit and Proper (FIT) test, with the new rules and guidance taking effect on 1 September 2026. The EHRC’s focus on leadership, tailored training, data-led risk assessment and documented preventative measures is particularly relevant. These steps may help evidence compliance with the duty to prevent and support a firm’s ability to demonstrate that it is identifying and managing NFM risks effectively.
- Third-party harassment: From October 2026, employers will also be liable for unlawful harassment of their staff by third parties unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. Employers should therefore factor third-party risk into any refreshed harassment risk assessment.
The EHRC is expected to update its Technical Guidance on Sexual Harassment and Harassment at work as the October 2026 implementation date approaches.
Practical steps
- October 2026 may seem some way off, but organisations that wait until the legislation takes effect are likely to face rushed reviews of policies, training and risk assessments.
- The EHRC’s research provides a timely reminder to employers. Now is the time to assess workplace-specific risks, strengthen prevention measures, test reporting systems and create a clear audit trail demonstrating proactive action.
- Financial services firms should also ensure that this work is joined up with their non-financial misconduct frameworks, including escalation, investigation, regulatory reporting and fitness and propriety processes where relevant.
- For advice on reviewing your sexual harassment risk assessment, updating workplace policies or preparing for the new “all reasonable steps” duty, please get in touch with us or your usual contact at Baker McKenzie.