What sexual harassment training do UK employers need under the "all reasonable steps" duty?

What changed, and when?

The duty sits in the Equality Act 2010, which covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own equality law.

What should harassment training cover now?

"All reasonable steps" is a high bar. A policy and a yearly slide deck are unlikely to be enough on their own. Build the training from your own risk assessment.

• Everyone: what sexual harassment is, with examples from your own workplace, and how to report it.
• Managers: how to respond to a report, how to step in early, and what not to do.
• Customer-facing teams: what to do when a customer, client, patient or contractor harasses them, and how the employer will back them.
• People who investigate: fair process, records and confidentiality.
• New starters: before or soon after they start, not at the next annual cycle.

How do you show the steps you took?

If a claim is brought, you will be asked what you did before the incident. Keep the evidence in one place.

• Assign the training automatically when someone joins, is promoted or changes site.
• Set a due date and a refresher interval, and let reminders and escalations run.
• Keep completion certificates with the date, the course name and the version of the policy it covered.
• Send managers and HR a weekly report of who is overdue.
• Keep the risk assessment, the policy and the training record together, so you can show what you did and when.

Can a ready-made workshop meet the duty?

Not by itself. The duty is about your workplace and your risks. Bodhih's Respect at Work trainer toolkit ($29) is a general anti-harassment and bullying workshop with a facilitator guide, slides, case studies and role plays, which a trainer adapts. Check it against the Equality and Human Rights Commission's guidance, add your own policy, reporting routes and third-party risks, and record who completed it.