Sexual Harassment Training for the New Duty to Prevent
From 30 October 2026, employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment.
Stepping Up to the Duty is sexual harassment prevention training that helps your employees to notice sexual harassment, respond to it, and prevent it. Trusted by major football clubs, universities, councils, police forces and the NHS – we help employers and staff to become active bystanders.
30 October 2026
What Is the New Law on Preventing Sexual Harassment?
The new law comes into effect on 30 October 2026. It states that employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. The Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens the existing duty, in force since October 2024, by adding the word “all”.
Separately, the Act makes employers liable for harassment of their staff by third parties, such as customers, clients and contractors, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. This applies to harassment related to any protected characteristic, not only sexual harassment.
What Was the Law Before?
What Changes on 30 October 2026?
- The duty becomes “all reasonable steps”. This updates the sexual harassment legislation in the Equality Act 2010.
- Employers become liable for harassment by customers, clients, contractors and other people outside the workforce, unless they take all reasonable steps to prevent it.
- Ministers will later set out what counts as reasonable.
What Counts as "All Reasonable Steps"?
Is Sexual Harassment Training Mandatory in the UK?
Stepping Up to Prevent Sexual Harassment at Work
Stepping Up to Prevent Sexual Harassment at Work is sexual harassment training for employees. It can be in person, online, or via eLearning, helping staff to notice sexual harassment, respond to it, and make a difference.
What the Course Does
Try our demo and see for yourself
View demoWhat Staff Will Learn
After the course, your staff will:
- Feel ready to act and help build a workplace culture that stops harassment before it happens.
- Spot chances to step in and use bystander strategies, especially with low-level behaviour that can escalate if nobody challenges it.
- Report concerns and get support with more confidence, following your organisation’s policies and procedures.
- Understand the part everyone plays in reducing risk, and the legal duty to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection Act 2023.
- Recognise sexual harassment at work, including the lower-level behaviour that can lead to more serious misconduct.
- Know how common sexual harassment is and the harm it does, so they are more motivated to challenge it early.
Built Around Your Organisation
Choose our standard course or a bespoke version. We can tailor it to your brand and tone of voice, with custom scenarios that reflect your sector or organisation.
Delivered Into Your LMS
The course is delivered into your own learning management system, using SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 (including 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions).
Evidence based
Our approach is backed by nine peer-reviewed papers. Bystander intervention training is the most evidenced public health approach to the prevention of sexual violence. Fenton and Mott, 2018, Addis and Snowdon, 2023.
We were founded by Professor Rachel Fenton, Professor of Law at the University of Exeter, and Dr Nathan Eisenstadt. We have delivered programmes for a range of organisations, including Arsenal Football Club, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, the University of Birmingham, the Welsh Government and Devon and Cornwall Police.
Training for Your Sector
Workplaces
Workplaces including the NHS and fire and rescue: Stepping Up to the Duty is part of our workplace offer, alongside Bystander at Work® and Kindling Transformative Conversations.
Universities
Lead the Change is our approach to preventing sexual misconduct in universities, delivered live in person, online or as eLearning, in line with the Office for Students E6 requirements.
Sport
We train athletes, role models, support staff and leaders to challenge gender inequality and prevent sexual harassment.
Questions About the Course
Our standard live training lasts 3.5 hours. In-person sessions are more hands-on, with a focus on scenarios and practising skilful conversations.
The eLearning has three 20-minute modules. If you already run bystander, EDI or sexual harassment prevention training, we also offer bespoke 90-minute sessions.
The EHRC says everyone, including managers and senior staff, should be trained on:
- Recognising sexual harassment at work
- What to do if they experience or witness it
- Handling complaints of harassment
In sectors where customers are more likely to harass staff, training should also cover how to deal with it. Managers may need extra guidance on investigating complaints, taking disciplinary action and supporting staff.
The EHRC says employers should review whether their training is working, offer regular refresher sessions and keep a record of who has been trained.
Our co-founder, Professor Rachel Fenton, whose research the EHRC cites, said: “It is not enough to have ‘tick box’, one-off training. The leadership of organisations need to be involved. Training needs to be repeated and meaningful and designed to help people develop skills so they fully understand what good behaviour looks like.”
Every organisation is different. A thorough risk assessment will show you what training you need, and our team can help you work through the options.
See the Course in Action
The duty to prevent sexual harassment asks more of employers from 30 October 2026. To see the course for yourself, get in touch for a free demo.
Ask us how Stepping Up to the Duty uses realistic scenarios, branching stories and reflective activities to help your people prevent sexual harassment at work. We can also talk you through live delivery, how the eLearning works with your learning management system, or a bespoke version for your organisation.