The Employment Rights Act 2025: Are Your Managers Ready?

This article provides general information about employment law developments and should not be treated as legal advice. Employers should consult the relevant legislation, official guidance and qualified legal advisers where appropriate. 

Your policies might be up to date. But are your managers ready? 

Friday 30 October 2026 marks another important milestone in the implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025, with new provisions affecting workplace harassment, trade union rights and employee relations coming into force. 

For HR leaders, the immediate priority is understanding what is changing and ensuring their organisations are prepared. Beyond updating policies and reviewing procedures lies an important question: are the people responsible for implementing these changes equipped to do so? 

This is essential to understand, as employment law compliance doesn’t happen on paper. It happens in everyday interactions, management decisions and the way organisations respond when something goes wrong. From Friday, the strengthened preventative duty and the new third-party harassment rules both ask the same question: did the employer take all the steps it reasonably could? The evidence for that will come from how managers behaved, not just from what the handbook says. 

What’s changing on 30 October? 

A strengthened duty to prevent sexual harassment 

Employers have been under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment since October 2024. From 30 October, that duty is strengthened to require employers to take all reasonable steps. 

While the difference in wording may appear relatively small, it raises important questions about how thoroughly organisations identify risks, implement preventative measures and demonstrate that those measures are effective. The consequences are real. Where an employee wins a sexual harassment claim and the tribunal finds the employer also breached its preventative duty, compensation can be increased by up to 25 per cent. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can also take enforcement action against an employer that has not taken reasonable steps, even where no harassment has yet occurred. 

New responsibilities concerning third-party harassment 

Employers will also become liable for harassment of their employees by third parties, including customers, clients and other people employees encounter through their work, unless they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent it. This protection is not limited to sexual harassment. It also covers harassment related to other protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, such as race, disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation. 

This is particularly relevant for organisations whose employees regularly interact with people outside their immediate teams, whether in customer-facing roles, client meetings, events or other professional settings. 

Changes to trade union rights and protections 

Further provisions introduce a new statutory right for trade unions to request access to workplaces, in person or digitally, and reform the recognition process, alongside additional rights and protections for trade union representatives and workers participating in industrial action. 

The access right deserves attention from employers with no union presence as well as those with established relationships. A union does not need to be recognised, or to have members in the workforce, to make a request. Employers have 15 working days to respond and a further 25 working days to negotiate an agreement. If the parties cannot agree, the Central Arbitration Committee can decide whether access is granted and on what terms, although it can only impose an agreement on employers with 21 or more workers. 

The full implementation timetable and a summary of each measure are available through the UK government’s official guidance. 

From reasonable steps to all reasonable steps: Why the distinction matters 

The existing requirement for employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ already placed an obligation on organisations to act proactively rather than simply respond to incidents after they occurred. The move to ‘all reasonable steps’ places greater emphasis on the breadth and adequacy of those preventative measures. 

What makes this harder is the absence of a definitive list. The Act gives ministers the power to specify in regulations the steps employers must take, but the government has said it will consult first and does not expect those regulations until 2027/28. Until then, employers must meet the higher standard without a rulebook, drawing on the EHRC’s technical guidance and Acas advice. 

For HR teams, this means looking beyond whether the organisation has a harassment policy or whether employees have completed mandatory training. The better consideration is whether the organisation has properly considered where harassment risks might arise and what it can reasonably do to reduce them. The EHRC is direct on this point: an employer is unlikely to be able to comply with the preventative duty without carrying out a risk assessment. 

Those risks will vary considerably between workplaces. An organisation with a largely remote workforce may face different challenges from one operating in hospitality, retail or professional services. Employees working alone, attending client events, travelling for business or interacting regularly with customers may encounter particular risks that require specific preventative measures. 

A meaningful approach to prevention might include: 

• Assessing workplace risks: Identifying where, when and how inappropriate behaviour could occur, including in interactions with third parties. 

• Reviewing training: Ensuring employees and managers understand what constitutes sexual harassment and how to recognise and respond to it. 

• Strengthening reporting mechanisms: Making it clear how employees can raise concerns, including when the person involved is a senior colleague, customer or client. 

• Taking appropriate action: Ensuring concerns are addressed promptly, consistently and sensitively. 

• Reviewing effectiveness: Monitoring whether preventative measures are working and adapting them as risks or working practices change. 

Acas provides practical guidance on steps employers can take to prevent sexual harassment, including risk assessments, training and reporting procedures, along with separate guidance on the third-party harassment changes. 

Are your line managers equipped to respond? 

For many employees, their line manager is the first person they approach when something at work doesn’t feel right. That makes management capability a critical part of an organisation’s approach to preventing harassment, and from Friday it becomes part of the evidence of whether the organisation took all reasonable steps. 

Yet there can be a considerable gap between understanding a policy and knowing how to apply it in a difficult or sensitive situation. 

Consider a manager whose employee reports inappropriate comments from an important client. A poor response is easy to picture. The manager sympathises, suggests the employee avoid being alone with the client and hopes the account survives. Nothing is recorded, HR never hears about it and the organisation has no answer when the behaviour recurs. 

A good response looks different. The manager takes the concern seriously regardless of the client’s commercial value, writes down what was said, explains what happens next and is honest that absolute confidentiality cannot be promised. The concern reaches HR the same day. The organisation then decides what to do about the client, which might mean raising it directly, pointing to the conduct standards in its terms of business or changing who manages the account without disadvantaging the employee who spoke up. Acas suggests employers review client and supplier contracts so that those standards are written in, and the EHRC’s view is that harassment by a customer or client should be treated just as seriously as harassment by a colleague. 

The difference between those two responses has nothing to do with the policy, which was identical in both cases. It comes down to whether the manager recognised the behaviour, knew what to do and had the confidence to act, particularly where challenging it meant confronting a senior colleague, a commercially important relationship or an established workplace culture. 

The same applies to the team leader who witnesses behaviour others dismiss as harmless banter, or the employee who raises a concern but asks their manager not to tell anyone. These situations require more than familiarity with a staff handbook. 

This raises several questions for HR leaders: 

• Do managers know what they’re looking for?  Sexual harassment is not always overt. Managers need to recognise a range of inappropriate behaviours and understand that intent and impact are not necessarily the same thing. 

• Do they understand their responsibility to act? Preventing harassment isn’t solely about responding to formal complaints. Managers have a role in setting expectations, challenging inappropriate conduct and creating an environment where employees feel able to raise concerns. 

• Do they know when to seek support? Managers shouldn’t be expected to become employment law specialists. They do, however, need clear escalation routes and access to appropriate HR or employee relations expertise. 

This is where practical, scenario-based training can be particularly valuable. Rather than simply asking managers to acknowledge a policy, organisations can help them practise the situations they’re likely to encounter. The objective isn’t to turn every line manager into an HR professional. It’s to ensure they understand their responsibilities and have the confidence and support to fulfil them. 

The wider employee relations picture 

While the harassment provisions may attract much of the immediate attention, the changes to trade union rights and protections are another important consideration for HR leaders. 

New workplace access rights and reformed recognition arrangements, alongside additional protections for trade union representatives and workers involved in industrial action, will require some employers to revisit their existing employee relations practices. 

For organisations with established trade union relationships, this may mean reviewing current arrangements, communication processes and management guidance. 

For others, it may involve deciding now who would handle an access request if one arrived, how the 15-working-day response would be managed and what the organisation’s position on access would be, as well as developing a greater understanding of statutory recognition procedures and how to engage constructively with employee representatives. 

Whatever the starting point, the value of strong employee relations capability remains consistent. Managing consultation, resolving workplace disputes and handling sensitive conversations all require specialist knowledge, sound judgement and an understanding of the wider organisational context. 

As employment legislation changes, these skills become increasingly important, particularly for businesses managing organisational change or operating with lean HR teams. 

Five questions HR leaders should be asking now 

With the next provisions coming into force this Friday, there are several practical questions worth addressing. 

1. Do we know which changes apply to our organisation? 

Review the official commencement timetable and identify the provisions that affect your workforce, working arrangements and existing policies. 

2. Have we assessed our workplace harassment risks? 

Consider whether existing risk assessments reflect the reality of how employees work, including customer interactions, off-site activities and relationships with third parties. 

3. Are our managers prepared? 

Check whether line managers understand their responsibilities, know how to respond to concerns and have clear routes for obtaining specialist support. 

4. Are our employee relations processes fit for purpose? 

Review relevant procedures, trade union arrangements and internal communication practices to identify where updates may be needed, including how an access request would be handled. 

5. Do we have the right HR capability and capacity? 

Implementing legislative change takes time and expertise. Consider whether your existing HR team has the resources and specialist knowledge needed to support managers, review practices and monitor implementation. 

Beyond compliance: Building management capability 

The Employment Rights Act 2025 represents a significant programme of change for UK employers, and 30 October is one milestone in a wider implementation process. 

The next arrives quickly. From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims falls from two years to six months and the cap on compensatory awards is removed. Further changes to bereavement leave, collective redundancy thresholds and flexible working follow through 2027. Each one puts more weight on the quality of everyday management decisions and on the HR and employee relations expertise behind them. 

Legislation can establish standards and responsibilities, but it is the people within an organisation who determine how those standards are understood and applied. A well-written policy has limited value if managers don’t recognise the behaviours it addresses. A reporting procedure is only effective if employees feel able to use it. And new employee relations obligations require people with the knowledge and judgement to handle them. 

With the standard rising on Friday and the detailed regulations not expected for another year or more, investing in capable managers and experienced HR and employee relations professionals will be as important as reviewing the policies themselves. 

At Career Moves Group, our specialist HR recruitment team works with organisations to find the HR and People professionals who can help them manage change, strengthen employee relations and build effective, resilient workplaces. That includes employee relations specialists who can lead on harassment risk assessments and manager training, and additional HR capacity for organisations whose teams are stretched by the pace of implementation. 

Looking to strengthen your HR or Employee Relations capability?

Whether you’re looking for specialist expertise or building the management capability to navigate change, our HR recruitment team can help.

Get in touch with our Head of HR Recruitment, Danielle Degen, to discuss your hiring needs and how Career Moves Group can support your organisation.