Preventing Sexual Harassment: Is your organisation ready for 30 October 2026?

This one-word change to the existing obligation is hugely significant for education providers. Education settings often involve multiple third-party interactions, such as with students, placement students, visitors, parents, contractors, and with individuals at social events, trips and even in a residential environment with housekeeping and catering teams. Education employers must therefore be more proactive than ever in identifying sector-specific risks and being able to demonstrate all the steps they have taken.

Where the duty is breached, discrimination compensation can be uplifted by up to 25%, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (“EHRC”) has the power to investigate and take enforcement action.

What will “all reasonable steps” entail?

Rather unhelpfully, the ERA 2025 does not expressly say what it considers “all reasonable steps” to be. Instead, the government will be consulting on regulations to come into force, expected during 2027 or even 2028, on what they consider to be (or not be) reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. This is likely to include steps around risk assessments, policies and action plans, reporting and the handling of complaints. The government has also previously stated that “all reasonable steps” will look different for each employer, depending on circumstances including the employer’s size, the sector it works in, the working environment, its resources and “other relevant facts”. For education employers, this means looking beyond the immediate working environment and staff. Education providers will also need to consider the wider range of people and settings their staff encounter, including students (their age and vulnerability), parents, visitors and other third parties; public events and trips; staff-to-staff and staff-to-student interactions; boarding or residential arrangements; extra-curricular activities; and the use of social media platforms.

Whilst we await updated guidance, we recommend revisiting the EHRC Technical Guidance and the Eight-step Guide on preventing sexual harassment at work, introduced when the preventative duty first came into force in 2024.

Harassment by third parties

Additionally, also from 30 October 2026, education employers could find themselves liable for harassment by third parties if they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment from taking place. In an education context, as mentioned, the focus should not only be on staff-to-staff interactions, but also the wider community in which staff work.

Steps to take now

A high-level overview of the steps which education employers should be taking now is set out below. As no two institutions are the same, specific advice is always recommended in relation to an employer’s individual circumstances, governance structure and risk profile:

How can we help?

At Greenwoods, our Employment team are well prepared and suited to assist education employers with any concerns relating to the above. If you need help with risk assessments, policy reviews, staff training, reporting routes, handling complaints or preparing for the enhanced duty, please feel free to get in contact with us, and we will be able to advise on a suitable way forward.