In our recent webinar series on the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025), we received a number of questions on the practical implications of the new reforms.

We have already addressed many of your questions in our earlier blogs on the effective management of probationary periods and fixed-term contracts. In this final blog in the series, we respond to the remaining questions we were asked.

Harassment reforms

What baseline controls should employers have in place for the October 2026 harassment reforms?

Since October 2024, employers have been under a proactive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. From October 2026, this duty will be strengthened, and employers will be required to take 'all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment. Employers will also be liable for harassment by third parties, unless they can show they took 'all reasonable steps' to prevent it.

While detailed guidance on what constitutes reasonable steps is not expected until 2027, as a minimum, by October 2026 employers should ensure they have in place:

• Clear policies: including clear and practical examples of prohibited conduct.
• Risk assessments: identify where harassment risks arise (for example, where there is a power imbalance, lone or late working, third-party interactions, events, travel etc). This should be treated as an ongoing exercise and kept under regular review. Where employers currently have a single, central risk assessment, consider...

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