Harassment by customers and clients: the new duty from 30th October

From 30 October 2026, two changes to harassment law come into force under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, not just reasonable ones. And for the first time in over a decade, employers can be held liable when a customer, client, supplier or member of the public harasses a member of staff.

If your team deals with the public, works on client sites or answers the phone to customers, this one is worth half an hour of your time before the end of the month.

So what is changing on the 30th October?

The changes were confirmed in commencement regulations made at the start of October, so the date is now fixed.

1. A tougher duty on sexual harassment.

Since October 2024, employers have had a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. However, from the 30th October, that becomes a duty to take all reasonable steps. It sounds like a small wording change, but in practice it means you cannot leave out a step that would have been reasonable for a business like yours.

2. Liability for harassment by third parties.

A third party is anyone who is not you or one of your employees. That includes customers, clients, patients, suppliers, contractors and any member of the public. If one of them harasses a member of your staff while they are at work, and you did not take all reasonable steps to prevent it, you can be liable.

This second change is wider than sexual harassment. It covers harassment related to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. A single incident can be enough.

What does "all reasonable steps" looks like in a small business

Although there is no official checklist yet. The government has a power to set out required steps in regulations, but those are not expected until 2027 at the earliest. Until then the best guide is the Equality and Human Rights Commission's technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work.

What counts as reasonable depends on the size and resources of your business. A ten person cafe is not expected to do what a national retailer does. But it is expected to do something and to be able to show it.

For most small teams, that means:

• Think through the risks. Where could harassment happen in your business? Late shifts, lone working, client visits, social events and customer-facing roles are the usual places to start. Write down what you found and what you will do about it. A page is fine.

• Have a clear policy. It should say what harassment is, that it will not be tolerated from anyone, including customers, and how to report it. Make sure people have actually read it.