As new legal obligations for employers under the Employment Rights Act 2025 come into force on 30th October, leading e-learning provider High Speed Training has seen a steep increase in demand for sexual harassment courses.
In the months leading up to the new legislation, High Speed Training has seen average monthly demand increase for their Sexual Harassment Training for Managers and Supervisors course by 178%, with demand for their Bullying & Harassment course up 211%.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 became law in December 2025 and brought about changes that will happen in 2026 and 2027. Amongst a myriad of additions and amendments, the Act strengthens the law on workplace harassment. These specific changes will come into effect from 30th October 2026.
The current law on sexual harassment in the workplace states that employers must take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent harassment. From 30th October 2026, employers will need to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment.
This means taking all steps that are reasonable for the organisation rather than just some of the steps, focusing on preventing sexual harassment rather than only reacting to incidents, and applying these steps across the whole organisation. The new legal duty also means that employers are liable for harassment of staff by third parties (e.g. customers and suppliers) unless the employer took all reasonable steps to prevent it.
Employers will therefore need to have measures to prevent third party harassment, such as communicating anti-harassment policies to customers, clients and other third parties, updating supplier codes of conduct, referencing anti-harassment policies in third party contracts, and providing training to managers and staff.
An example of taking all reasonable steps could include an employer or manager sharing anti-harassment policies and codes of conduct with employees and third parties, ensuring colleagues are signed up for mandatory sexual harassment training, and ensuring that they know how to recognise and report sexual harassment.
Jamie Kemp, Director at High Speed Training, said: “To prepare for these changes, employers must take a proactive approach rather than relying on reactive policies. This includes reviewing and updating existing policies, or creating a standalone sexual harassment policy if one does not already exist.
“Delivering practical training across all levels of an organisation is vital to ensuring employees can recognise harassment, understand their rights, and know exactly how to report concerns safely and confidently.
“The rise in training demand that we have seen shows that businesses recognise the need to act in order to create safe and effective workplace cultures.”
To learn more, visit www.highspeedtraining.co.uk or the High Speed Training Hub for free resources.
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