HR specialist at Azets says employers must ensure compliance with regulations from October 30
Employers across the South West are being warned to be fully compliant with new third party harassment laws which come into force later this month or face severe consequences.
Changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 on October 30 require employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent employees being harassed by third parties.
Failure to do so could result in costly and time-consuming employment tribunals and action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The current position under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 doesn’t give employees a direct statutory route to legislation unless criminal conduct is established or there is a health and safety breach, but this is being superseded.
H-J Dobbie, Head of HR Consultancy at UK top 10 accountancy firm Azets says employers will no longer be able to brush instances of harassment under the carpet.
Azets, the UK’s specialist business advisor to SMEs, has office across the South West in Bristol, Gloucester, Truro, South Molton, Plymouth and Poole.
H-J said: “The new legislation restores and strengthens protections which were removed when Section 40 of the Equality Act was repealed in 2013.
“It requires employers to actively consider where third-party harassment risks arise and what preventative steps they have taken. Simply having a policy sitting on a shelf will not be enough if a tribunal asks what practical action was taken to protect their workforce.
“Employers, with some urgency, need to address the subject of third-party harassment risk and ensure they are taking the appropriate steps to prevent it.
“Third‑party harassment occurs when someone a worker is in contact with through work (for example a customer, client, contractor, service user, patient, visitor, or the public) engages in behaviour that violates their dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
“This is particularly acute for public or customer-facing roles such as shop workers, healthcare workers, teachers, hospitality staff, transport officials, construction workers, and social workers, but the legislation covers all workers, regardless of the size of the business.
“Many incidents of harassment go unreported because workers fear they will not be taken seriously or that nothing will change. Employers should use this legislative change as an opportunity to reinforce a culture at work where concerns can be raised confidently, investigated promptly, and addressed consistently.”
H-J added that liability applied to all nine protected characteristics under the 2010 Equality Act – age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
She said that harassment could include but was not limited to third parties making sexist comments, the mocking of a disability, persistent harassment of healthcare workers by patients, sexually suggestive remarks, or racially abusive messages.
H-J said: “Employers must be aware that a single incident may be enough for liability and should put steps in place now to proactively manage risks.
“There is still time to build a compliance framework, but it will take immediate action which should include identifying all third parties with whom workers come into contact and carrying out a detailed third-party harassment risk assessment.
“There is a need to review existing policies to ensure they address third party conduct – one of the biggest risks we foresee is that employers will assume that their existing dignity at work or anti-harassment policies will be sufficient, but in many cases, they won’t be.
“There is also a need to revisit customer contracts, to see whether harassment by the third party could enable termination of that contract.
“Employers are going to need to stand firm when it comes to making difficult decisions like this, but being able to rely on robust contract clauses will help them ensure they do right by their workforce.
“Another important aspect is raising awareness. Make sure that all workers know how to raise a concern about third-party harassment and that managers are trained to ensure that the expected employer response is clear and transparent.
“Businesses also need to review whether workers are adequately protected at work, especially when lone working, and we suggest communication protocols are also considered as part of the bigger picture.
“The bottom line is that any reasonable employer should want to prevent their workers from being harassed, but if there is a claim, any demonstrable actions taken to prevent harassment would inform their ability to build a defence.
“The financial consequences of a claim for getting it wrong can be significant, but employers should also consider the reputational impact.
“In today’s environment, allegations that an employer failed to protect its workforce can spread quickly and damage employer brand, customer relationships, and employee trust. Prevention is invariably less expensive than dealing with the fallout from a complaint.
“If a claim is brought, an employment tribunal is likely to look at whether the employer identified foreseeable risks and what steps were actually taken to address them.
“The key message for employers is that this legislation is not about reacting when something goes wrong; it is about demonstrating that reasonable preventative measures were already in place.
“We strongly advise that you take professional advice today, as businesses that start preparing now will be in a far stronger position to protect their workforce and defend any future claims.
“If you wait until there is a complaint before you take action, you may find you have left it too late.”
Azets’ HR Consultancy is specialist in the provision of human resources, offering flexible support solutions covering all aspects of HR for a variety of different sized businesses across many sectors
