The Worker Protection Act 2024: What Every Employer Must Do

Sexual harassment is more widespread in UK workplaces than you might imagine. While there are no official government figures, sources suggest up to one in four employees has experienced some form of sexual harassment at work in the last 12 months. For immediate HR advice on how to handle a complaint, please get in touch.

Businesses in Manchester, Cheshire and Altrincham have already had several employment law updates to deal with under the Employment Rights Act 2025. With further updates due to become law in October 2026, SMEs need to take proactive steps to ensure compliance.

In this article, we answer the following questions:

• How common is sexual harassment in UK workplaces?

• What is the Worker Protection Act 2024?

• What does the Worker Protection Act mean for employers?

• What happens if an employer fails to comply?

• What is the definition of sexual harassment?

• The actions every employer should take to ensure compliance

• What do reasonable steps look like?

• How to build a respectful, inclusive culture

How common is sexual harassment in UK workplaces?

• The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Crime Survey for England and Wales found that, in the year ending March 2025, 22.5% of people aged 16+ said they had experienced sexual harassment at work in the last 12 months.

• 7.1% of people who said they had experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months were harassed by a workmate or colleague.

• Incidents of sexual harassment are more common against women - 7.8% of incidents were experienced by women and 5.3% by men.

• 5.2% of people aged 16+ who said they had experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months were harassed by a client or member of the public contacted through work.

• Research by Unite the Union suggests sexual harassment may be more prevalent than these figures show. A survey of 6,615 women members revealed that 25% had been sexually assaulted at work or while travelling to work, and 8% had experienced some form of sexual coercion.

• Worryingly, three quarters of women who had been sexually harassed at work said they did not report the incidents. Reasons for this include incidents being ignored or refuted in the past, fear of repercussion, being dismissed or accused of lying.  

What is the Worker Protection Act 2024?

The Worker Protection Act 2024 (WPA) came into force on 26 October 2024 and applies to employers in England, Scotland and Wales. The Act came about as an amendment to the Equality Act 2010, strengthening previous legislation, increasing employee protection and placing additional responsibilities on employers.

Since 26 October 2024, employers have been subject to a proactive duty to prevent sexual harassment taking place in their workplace. Under this duty, employers were required to take “reasonable steps” to ensure it does not take place. This includes preventing sexual harassment by managers, colleagues, company representatives, and third parties.

Further amendments under the Employment Rights Act 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 amended the proactive duty and requires employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. This goes beyond the ”reasonable steps” of the October 2024 law. The change was intended to remove confusion and any perception that there is a lower threshold for sexual harassment. This latest amendment, along with a clause making employers liable for third party harassment, will come into force in October 2026.

Protected disclosure

In April 2026, legislation changed around sexual harassment disclosures. All disclosures that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur, now qualify as a “protected disclosure”. As with other qualifying disclosures, the disclosure does not need to be substantiated, however the individual must have reasonable belief that it is true and in the public interest. This means that employees making a qualifying disclosure in relation to sexual harassment are protected from suffering a detriment, and any dismissal for this reason would be automatically unfair.

What does the Worker Protection Act mean for employers?

Prevention is the operative word. Government guidance states an employer needs to show that it has taken the relevant steps set out in the regulations and taken other reasonable preventative steps.

Every employee deserves to work in a safe place. They must feel able to report any behaviours or incidents that make them feel uncomfortable. Employers must take proactive steps to prevent all forms of harassment, make sure managers and employees are fully aware what sexual harassment looks like, and how to report it.

What will happen if an employer fails to comply?

If an employer fails to comply with the Worker Protection Act, they risk legal and reputational risk, and an increased possibility of grievances going to tribunal, resulting in huge financial penalties. Compensation may cover past and future loss of earnings, injury to feelings and personal injury.

An individual must bring a claim against their employer for sexual harassment to an Employment Tribunal. If the claim is successful and compensation awarded, a breach of the preventative duty will automatically be examined.

Where a tribunal finds a breach of the Equality Act 2010 and evidence that an employee has been sexually harassed, financial compensation could be increased to a maximum of 25%. When you consider that compensation in the most serious sexual harassment cases has been known to exceed £50k, failing to meet your employer’s preventative duty could significant financial consequences.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has regulatory enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2006. The Commission may take action on any employer where there is evidence that they have not taken “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment and therefore breached their preventative duty. An incident does not need to take place for the Commission to take action.

More on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Sexual harassment: key behaviours to look out for

The EHRC defines sexual harassment as when a worker is subjected to unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of:

- violating a worker’s dignity, or

- creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that worker.

Sexually harassing behaviours may include:

• Unwanted attention, calls or messages

• Inappropriate and offensive sexual jokes, comments or gestures, commonly dismissed as banter

• Unwanted flirting or advances

• Inappropriate and unwanted touching

• Sharing sexually explicit images or videos on work platforms

• Making promises in return for sexual favours (sexual coercion)

• Displaying, showing or sharing pornographic images in the workplace

These types of behaviours are perhaps more common than you may think. In the Unite the Union survey, more than half of women said they had been the recipient of sexually offensive jokes or experienced unwanted flirting, gesturing or sexual remarks. Four in ten had been inappropriately touched and almost one in three had been shared or shown pornographic images by a manager, colleague or third party.

When developing training for managers and colleagues, consider what each of these behaviours look like in reality. Scenario-based training is highly effective in bringing sexual harassment behaviours to life, and empowering employees to take action and report it.

Read our tips on how to tackle harassment allegations in the workplace.

Should we be worried about young workers?

Young workers who are new to the world of work may also be naive to the nature of sexual harassment. Training and education is key to empowering all employees in what is acceptable behaviour in the workplace, not just those who are less experienced. The law around sexual harassment at work, what it looks like, company policy, and how to report an incident should form an essential part of an employee’s induction to the business. This builds confidence and supports every individual to get off to the best possible start, no matter their age or level of experience.

What do ‘reasonable steps’ look like?

Every employer may prevent sexual harassment in different ways, and what is reasonable will vary. The most crucial thing is to be proactive, an take your duty as an employer seriously by protecting your workforce and preventing sexual harassment occurring.

Common reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment include:

1. Carry out a risk assessment: this is an important part of compliance. A sexual harassment risk assessment will help you to evaluate the current situation and whether existing measures of prevention are effective. Your assessment may include an anonymous employee survey to understand the current situation and identify .

2. Consider what steps to take: analyse the findings from your risk assessment and/or survey. What steps could you take to reduce the risks identified? Which of these are reasonable steps that you can realistically implement?

3. Review policies and procedures: you can reduce exposure to risk by updating and refreshing harassment policy and processes in line with current employment law. Make sure they are both current and clear.

4. Communicate guidance: share your plans and changes to policy or procedure with employees, no matter how small these are. Employers have a duty to ensure employees know their rights, and the steps to raise and report sexual harassment incidents. Provide signage for visitors, if appropriate. Consider if it is necessary to provide third parties with specific guidance.

5. Train managers in prevention best practice: refresher training on handling complaints and their duties under company sexual harassment policy. Retain all training documentation as proof that you have taken “all reasonable steps”.  

6. Raise awareness and understanding: training and education rolled out company-wide, including to third parties who engage regularly with your business.

You should carry out risk assessments on a regular basis to evaluate the anti-harassment measures you have in place and review how effective they are. For expert HR support on what to include in your risk assessment and anti-harassment policy, please get in touch here. 

The features of a proactive approach 

Many businesses will want to follow EHRC guidance and strengthen their approach to preventing sexual harassment at work. If this sounds like you, the following guidance may help.

• Adopt a zero-tolerance approach: Acas wants UK employers to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment at work. This means creating a workplace culture where this type of behaviour is understood to be unacceptable and ‘everyday actions’ that have always been tolerated are eliminated. 

• Be aware of the bigger picture: and the potential for sexual harassment in other environments, not just in the primary workplace. Incidents may happen outside of work, while travelling to work, via online channels, at conferences and events, and while engaging with third parties, such as customers and suppliers.

• Make changes where required: the legislation states that businesses must “ensure that specific steps are taken where the evidence demonstrates they are needed in order to prevent sexual harassment”. If you identify and become aware of a gap in policy, training, or awareness, you are obliged to take proactive steps to bridge it.

• Be proactive: don’t wait for an incident to happen. Send that survey, establish an employee representative group, seek out the additional training your workforce will benefit from.

• Educate your workforce: training and awareness should be continuous action, not a one-off tick-box exercise. Consider the needs of your employees throughout the lifecycle and hierarchy, from induction through to board members.

• Demonstrate inclusivity and consistency: in your policies, actions, training and messaging. Communicate consistently and in line with policy and legislation.

• Make it easy to report incidents: employees often don’t report incidents through fear of judgement, repercussion or discrimination. It’s common to fear accusations of lying, especially if the harasser is a superior. Women working in male dominated workplaces often cite a reluctance to speak to a male manger as a barrier to reporting incidents. If this applies to your workplace, consider offering alternative ways to report an incident within your policy.

• React quickly: to reports of sexual harassment. Early intervention can reduce the risk of complaints and resolve issues before they reach a costly and damaging tribunal. Every incident should be treated seriously, no matter how innocuous it appears. Follow policy and document every step you take.

• Show how you are taking action: deal with incidents quickly and share the outcomes as part of the training and education process. Real-life examples help cement learning and increase understanding of the consequences.

• Listen to suggestions: engage with employees and provide forums for them to provide feedback and suggestions. 

Build a culture of equality and respect

The ability to share thoughts and feelings freely, and without fear of repercussion or judgement, is a fundamental employee need. Employers that fail to build an equal, respectful culture where employees are heard and feel safe to speak up, risk creating the kind of toxic environment where sexual harassment thrives and is rarely reported. Individuals are likely to be more vulnerable to harassment if they fear speaking up.

An inclusive and respectful business culture makes for a more motivational work environment. This not only helps your employees to be at their best, it increases retention and productivity, enabling business growth.

Here are some tips to help build mutual trust and a culture where it is safe to speak up and call out unacceptable behaviour:

• Communicate with openness and transparency

• Create supportive, empathetic leaders

• Build trust between leaders and workers to enable employees to raise complaints without fear.

• Promote diversity, equity and inclusion to build confidence and self-worth.

• Always keep your promises. 

Read more on creating an inclusive workplace culture.