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Harassment law changes

Third party harassment

On 30 October 2026 the law will change so employers will be liable for harassment from third parties. The law is the Employment Rights Act 2025.

What is changing

Currently, if a worker is harassed by another worker, as an employer you could be liable. This is unless you have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.

In October 2026, the Employment Rights Act will strengthen the law. This will mean you could be liable if the harassment is from a third party. This will be unless you have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.

The Employment Rights Act will also strengthen sexual harassment protections.

Find out more about the changes to sexual harassment protections

Who counts as a third party

A third party could be anyone a worker is in contact with through work. A third party can be someone who does not work for you.

This could include:

  • customers
  • clients
  • service users, for example, school students or healthcare patients
  • self-employed consultants, contractors or tradespeople
  • people at conferences or events
  • other members of the public, for example, in shared spaces

A third party could harass someone online or in-person.

What counts as 'all reasonable steps'

After October 2026, you must take steps to protect workers from third party harassment.

The steps you take will likely depend on your organisation. For example:

  • its size
  • the sector
  • the kind of work your workers do

Steps could include:

  • regularly assessing risks for third-party harassment and taking action to avoid or reduce those risks
  • monitoring and recording incidents and actions taken
  • having a policy that sets out how to deal with third party harassment, for example a bullying and harassment policy
  • training workers, for example in staff safety and de-escalation
  • reviewing client, customer and supplier contracts or terms of conditions to make sure they include relevant parts of the policy
  • making sure that individual customer transactions, like hotel room bookings, include up-to-date terms and conditions
  • telling customers the consequences of harassing workers, for example on posters or in emails

For higher risk environments, steps are more likely to include:

  • making sure there are appropriate numbers of workers, for example, security staff
  • having appropriate safety equipment, for example personal alarms
  • installing body or security cameras for some teams or areas

Taking all reasonable steps means doing what is possible with the available resources. Some steps will not be possible for every organisation.

It is a good idea to record why you have not taken steps you've decided are not reasonable. This could include if you have taken a reasonable step for only some workers. For example, using bodycams for teams working in vulnerable positions.

Example of not taking all reasonable steps

Jan has a chain of convenience stores. They take on 2 new workers to cover the late weekend shifts. The stores experience shoplifting regularly.

Both new workers receive threats from customers to stop them reporting these thefts. One of the workers says customers have used racist terms towards them.

The workers follow the staff handbook and report the threats and harassment to Jan. However, Jan tells them this is all part of the job. Jan says there are plenty of other people who would be willing to replace them. If they complain, they will be fired.

It is very unlikely that Jan has taken all reasonable steps to prevent third party harassment.

Example of taking all reasonable steps

Sasha has recently opened a nightclub in a busy area.

The team tell Sasha they would feel safer with more security training and a 'call for support' system. Sasha looks into this and speaks with a trade association body.

Sasha develops a policy that sets out steps they're taking to prevent harassment. These steps include:

  • extra door supervisors
  • safety equipment, for example, an alarm system
  • cameras
  • code words
  • providing safe areas
  • incident tracking and reporting

This helps reduce the team's concerns. Although occasional problems still arise, they are quickly reviewed. 

Sasha is likely to have taken all reasonable steps to prevent third party harassment.

What employers need to do

You should start preparing for this law change in advance. For example, you might need to:

  • review and update existing policies, for example, lone working policies
  • consider which third parties your workers are in contact with
  • make sure workers know who to contact and how to raise a concern
  • assess whether you're taking all reasonable steps to prevent third party harassment

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