Must your restaurant take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of staff? Since October 2024 a restaurant in England, Wales or Scotland must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its staff. S.I. 2026/1065 brings sections 20, 21 and 22 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 into force on 30 October 2026. The duty in section 40A(1) of the Equality Act 2010 now reads "all reasonable steps", not "reasonable steps", and an employer must not permit a third party, such as a customer, to harass an employee. The regulations under section 40B that would list the steps regarded as reasonable have not been made. Until they are, the steps are the employer's to judge and to record. A summary of public law, not legal advice.

What the film covers

Update, 30 October 2026: the wider duty is now law
The duty that already applies
What reasonable steps means, as far as the regulator has written it down
What happens when it is not done
What is announced, and what has actually been made
In force, partly in force, not in force
The half of this that a website holds
Where TableSpark fits

Read the full articleA customer harassed your server. Which duties bind the restaurant from 30 October 2026Since October 2024 a restaurant in England, Wales or Scotland must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its staff, and the regulator can act with no complaint and no claimant. The wider duty came into force on 30 October 2026, and the confusion between the two is where the exposure lies. It is Saturday, the room is full, and a table of six has been drinking since seven. One of them puts a hand on a server as she clears the plates. She tells the manager; he takes that table himself for the rest of service and thinks it dealt with. Nothing is written down, no risk assessment exists, and the booking said nothing about how guests should behave towards staff. No note is left against the party, so a fortnight later the same six are back in that section with a different server. The owner is relaxed: nobody has complained, and the law everyone talks about is not expected before the autumn. Both are true, and neither answers the duty that already applies.

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