Sexual Harassment Training and the Employment Rights Act 2025: What UK Employers Must Do Now

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A poll of 464 HR professionals found that only 5% rate their sexual harassment training as excellent — and one in eight UK employers provides no training at all. With the Employment Rights Act 2025 now in force, that gap is no longer just a cultural failure. It is a legal liability.

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Key Statistics at a Glance

Stat	Figure
Employers providing zero sexual harassment training	1 in 8 (12%)
HR professionals who rate their training as excellent	5%
HR professionals planning to increase efforts under the ERA	81%
Employers who want bystander training but haven’t introduced it	45%

Source: VinciWorks survey of 464 HR professionals, March 2026.

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The Reality of Sexual Harassment Training in UK Workplaces

Despite years of growing public awareness around workplace harassment, a significant number of UK employers are still not taking the issue seriously enough. Research published in March 2026 — based on responses from 464 HR professionals — reveals a stark gap between intention and action.

The largest group of respondents, nearly two in five (43%), described their sexual harassment training as “OK, could be better.” A further 12% admitted they carry out no training at all. Only a small minority — just 5% — felt confident enough to rate their provision as excellent.

These findings matter now more than ever because the legal landscape has fundamentally changed.

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What the Employment Rights Act 2025 Requires

The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) is one of the most significant pieces of employment legislation in a generation. It builds on the Worker Protection Act 2023, which introduced a proactive duty for employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The ERA raises the bar considerably.

Key Changes and Deadlines

6 April 2026 — Already in force Sexual harassment disclosures are now classified as protected whistleblowing under the ERA. Any employee who raises a concern about sexual harassment — whether they experienced it, witnessed it, or believe it is likely to occur — must not face any detriment for doing so. This has immediate implications for how HR teams handle complaints.

October 2026 — Approaching deadline The employer duty rises from reasonable steps to all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. At the same time, employers become directly liable for harassment of their employees by third parties — including customers, clients, and contractors — if they have failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it.

Future regulations The government will publish regulations defining what counts as reasonable steps, putting measures such as risk assessments, policies, and training on a formal statutory footing.

⚠️ Important: These are not aspirational standards — they will be tested at employment tribunal. Tribunals have already made clear they treat stale or inadequate training as no defence. The Lidl case is instructive: the absence of documented, meaningful training contributed to an award of over £50,000 in damages and a legally binding remediation agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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How Whistleblowing and Harassment Processes Now Interact

One of the less-discussed but highly significant changes is the way the ERA blurs the boundary between harassment complaint procedures and whistleblowing processes.

Historically, these have been handled as separate HR functions. Under the new law, an employee who witnesses sexual harassment and reports it through a whistleblowing channel is now a protected discloser. Organisations that have not reviewed how those two functions interact are carrying a legal risk they may not have fully mapped.

In practical terms, this means:

• Whistleblowing policies must be updated to explicitly reference sexual harassment as a category of qualifying disclosure.
• HR and compliance teams must understand when a harassment complaint may also constitute a protected disclosure — and respond accordingly.
• Managers who are often the first point of contact need training on recognising protected disclosures and the consequences of discouraging reporting.

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The Bystander Intervention Gap

Bystander intervention training — which equips employees to safely intervene when they witness inappropriate behaviour — is widely regarded as one of the most effective tools for driving genuine cultural change. Yet the research shows it remains rare in UK workplaces.

Currently, fewer than one in ten (9%) organisations include bystander intervention as part of annual training. Meanwhile, nearly half (45%) of HR professionals say they want to introduce it but have not yet done so.

This gap carries particular weight now that third-party harassment liability comes into force in October 2026. For any organisation with customer-facing or client-facing staff, bystander intervention training is no longer a nice-to-have.

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What “All Reasonable Steps” Looks Like in Practice

Employment tribunals will assess whether an organisation has genuinely met the “all reasonable steps” standard on a case-by-case basis. The following framework provides a strong baseline:

Action	Why It Matters
Conduct a risk assessment	Identify where harassment risks exist — including third-party interactions — and document steps taken to mitigate them.
Implement a standalone sexual harassment policy	A clear, up-to-date policy covering third-party harassment and the new whistleblowing protections.
Deliver regular, documented training	Training must be current, meaningful, and evidenced. Annual refreshers are the minimum; one-off induction modules are not sufficient.
Include bystander intervention training	Particularly important for client-facing teams. Empowering staff to act when they witness inappropriate behaviour is a proactive prevention step.
Align whistleblowing and harassment procedures	Review both processes to reflect the new overlap created by the ERA’s protected disclosure provisions.
Train managers specifically	Managers need dedicated training on recognising protected disclosures and responding appropriately.

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The Compliance Risk of Doing Nothing

The research is clear that most HR professionals understand the direction of travel. The overwhelming majority — 81% — say they plan to increase their prevention efforts under the ERA. However, planning is not the same as acting, and the legal deadlines do not move.

For smaller organisations, the gap is even more pronounced. Businesses with fewer employees are significantly more likely to be providing no training at all, leaving them disproportionately exposed when the tougher standards take effect.

In regulated sectors, the risk is compounded further. In financial services, for example, FCA requirements around non-financial misconduct sit alongside the ERA, meaning organisations face scrutiny from two directions simultaneously.

“These numbers should concern any employer who believes they are broadly compliant. October’s ‘all reasonable steps’ standard will be tested at tribunal, and tribunals have already shown they treat stale or inadequate training as no defence at all.”

— Nick Henderson-Mayo, Head of Compliance, VinciWorks

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How Astute eLearning Helps UK Employers Stay Compliant

Astute eLearning, available through People First HR, is a cloud-based compliance training platform built for exactly this challenge. It gives HR teams everything they need to meet the “all reasonable steps” standard and demonstrate that compliance to a tribunal if required.

Sexual Harassment and Bystander Intervention Courses

Astute’s course library includes dedicated sexual harassment awareness training and bystander intervention modules, regularly reviewed and updated by compliance experts to reflect current legislation — including the Employment Rights Act 2025. Courses are interactive, can be completed at the learner’s own pace, and are available across devices.

Automated Enrolment and Reminders

One of the most common compliance failures is not the training itself — it is the lack of consistent delivery. Astute allows you to enrol employees individually or by role and automate reminder emails, ensuring no one slips through the net.

Real-Time Completion Tracking and Audit Trails

The Astute compliance dashboard gives you a live view of who has completed what training and when. Completion records can be exported in seconds — critical for evidencing compliance at board level or in the event of a tribunal claim.

Customisable Content

Courses can be tailored with your organisation’s branding and adapted to reflect your own policies and reporting procedures, making training feel relevant rather than generic.

Astute eLearning at a glance:

• Cloud-based — no installation required
• Courses updated to reflect Employment Rights Act 2025
• Sexual harassment and bystander intervention modules included
• Automated enrolment, reminders, and scheduled reporting
• Real-time compliance dashboard with exportable records
• Customisable branding and content
• UK-based support team, Monday to Friday

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is sexual harassment training mandatory in the UK? Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, UK employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment. While no single statute specifies a mandatory training format, employment tribunals treat the absence of documented, regular training as a failure to meet this duty. In practice, delivering sexual harassment training is a legal requirement.

What does the Employment Rights Act 2025 say about sexual harassment? The ERA strengthens UK sexual harassment law in three key ways: it raises the employer prevention duty to “all reasonable steps”; it introduces direct employer liability for third-party harassment from customers, clients and contractors; and from 6 April 2026, it classifies sexual harassment disclosures as protected whistleblowing, meaning workers who report concerns are legally protected from retaliation.

When do the new sexual harassment duties apply? The whistleblowing protection for sexual harassment disclosures came into force on 6 April 2026. The stronger “all reasonable steps” prevention duty, along with third-party harassment liability, takes effect in October 2026.

What is bystander intervention training? Bystander intervention training teaches employees how to safely and confidently intervene when they witness inappropriate behaviour at work. It is widely recognised as one of the most effective approaches for shifting workplace culture, and is particularly important for organisations with customer-facing or client-facing staff under the new third-party harassment provisions.

How does Astute eLearning support Employment Rights Act compliance? Astute eLearning provides cloud-based sexual harassment and bystander intervention courses kept up to date with current legislation. The platform tracks completion, automates reminders, and generates audit-ready reports — giving your organisation documented evidence that all reasonable steps have been taken.

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Ready to Close Your Compliance Gap?

Astute eLearning gives UK employers everything needed to meet the Employment Rights Act 2025 “all reasonable steps” standard — including up-to-date sexual harassment and bystander intervention courses, automated tracking, and a real-time compliance dashboard.