Sexual harassment law changes in October: what licensed venues need to know
New legal responsibilities for employers take effect on 30 October 2026. For pubs, bars, clubs and other licensed premises, now is the time to check that staff training, policies and procedures are ready.
Many venues have already arranged bystander or awareness training. That training is worth doing, but it does not answer every question now being asked of employers.
Who is responsible for responding during a shift? What should happen when a customer harasses a member of staff? Do new starters receive training? Does everyone know how to report an incident? Is the policy used, or does it sit in a folder?
The law changed in October 2024. It will become stronger again on 30 October 2026.
WHAT CHANGED IN OCTOBER 2024?
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force on 26 October 2024.
It placed a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers.
This is a preventative duty. This means that employers should consider where sexual harassment could happen and what they can reasonably do to stop it, rather than waiting until someone makes a complaint.
The duty also covers harassment between colleagues. It also requires employers to consider the risk of staff being sexually harassed by third parties. In a licensed venue, that could mean customers, performers, contractors or suppliers.
If an employment tribunal upholds a sexual harassment claim and finds that the employer breached the preventative duty, it can increase the compensation awarded by up to 25%. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can also take enforcement action.
WHAT WILL CHANGE ON 30 OCTOBER 2026?
From 30 October 2026, employers will be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees.
What is reasonable will depend on the workplace and the risks staff face. The change means employers will need to consider whether there were other reasonable steps they could have taken.
A new provision covering third-party harassment will come into force on the same date. Employers will have an obligation not to permit their employees to be harassed by third parties.
This is especially relevant to hospitality. Staff regularly deal with members of the public, and harassment from customers can too easily be dismissed as banter or treated as part of the job. But it isn’t and shouldn’t be part of the job.
WHAT CHANGED iN APRIL 2026?
A separate change to criminal law took effect on 1 April 2026.
The Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023 created an aggravated public-order offence. It applies where someone intentionally causes harassment, alarm or distress because of another person’s sex or presumed sex.
This does not mean that every instance of sexual harassment in public meets the test for a criminal offence. It does mean that police have stronger powers to deal with serious sex-based harassment in public places.
The Act does not create a new employment duty for venue operators. However, licensed venues are public settings where this behaviour can occur. Staff need to recognise serious behaviour and know when the police should be involved.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW AS A LICENSED VENUE?
Start with the situations your staff face.
That might include collecting glasses in a crowded room, working alone in a quieter part of the venue, dealing with persistent comments from a regular customer or finishing a late shift while someone waits outside.
Managers should consider when and where staff are most likely to experience harassment. They should then decide what can be done to reduce those risks.
Venues should have:
a sexual harassment policy that covers customers as well as colleagues
a reporting route that every member of staff understands
named responsibility for responding during each shift
training that reflects the situations staff encounter at work
safe options for intervening
a reliable way to record incidents
support for anyone who reports harassment
a process for training new starters
regular reviews of incidents, policies and working practices
A policy copied into a handbook will not help if staff do not know it exists or managers are unsure how to use it.
WHAT ABOUT IF You’VE DONE TRAINING ON THIS BEFORE?
Great! This is a good foundation.
Bystander training helps people recognise inappropriate behaviour and think about what they might do if they witness it.
But, now the legal responsibility, however, sits with the employer. Which means, there need to be a venue wide approach, not an individual approach to sexual harassment. The law is basically saying, that it’s not appropriate to rely on one confident member of staff to deal with incidents. Instead, you need processes and behaviours that work across the business and for everyone employed by it.
Nobody should expect customers, particularly intoxicated customers, to police the behaviour of other people. Venue staff are usually better placed to see what is happening, check whether someone is safe and involve colleagues, door staff or the police.
For that to work, staff need training and management backing. They also need to know where their role begins and ends.
HOW DOES SHOUT-UP! HELP WITH THIS?
Shout-Up! was developed for the night-time economy. It works with pubs, bars, clubs and other licensed premises to prevent and respond to sexual harassment involving staff and customers.
To become a Shout-Up! certified venue:
managers and supervisors attend training in person
every other member of staff completes online training within six weeks
the venue creates and publishes a sexual harassment policy
staff responsibilities for monitoring, reporting and intervention are agreed
new employees complete the training when they join
the venue takes part in a check-in every six months
Certification lasts for two years. Staff receive their own certificates, which can move with them if they take a job at another Shout-Up! venue.
The local Shout-Up! team stays involved throughout the certification period. They help venues keep staff training current, use policies during real situations and deal with problems when they arise.
No course can sign off a venue as legally compliant. The steps expected of each employer will depend on its circumstances. Shout-Up! helps venues organise their approach and put it into use across the business.
WHY THIS MATTERS FOR CUSTOMERS
The employment law changes are about protecting workers. What staff learn will also affect how they respond when a customer is harassed.
Staff who recognise early warning signs may be able to act before behaviour becomes more serious. A shared procedure also makes it less likely that an incident will be ignored or handled differently depending on who is working.
This work can support the four objectives of the Licensing Act 2003:
preventing crime and disorder
maintaining public safety
preventing public nuisance
protecting children from harm.
Everyone should feel safe on a night out. Being harassed should not be treated as a normal part of going out or working in hospitality.
More than 5,000 venue staff have completed Shout-Up! training since the programme began in 2017. In programme evaluation, 99.6% of staff who responded said they felt confident or very confident about identifying when to intervene after the training.
MORE INFO
Find out how Shout-Up! certification works.
Venues in Durham can find local information here.
Venues in Newcastle can find local information here.