What is the Employment Rights Bill?
The Employment Rights Bill will make significant changes to UK employment law and will represent the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation. The Bill aims to help more people stay in work, support productivity and improve workplace standards.
A key part of the Bill prioritises fairness, equality and wellbeing of workers, strengthening employers’ duties to prevent sexual harassment, protections for whistleblowers and improving gender equality, building on employers’ duties under the Worker Protection Act.
The Bill is expected to become law in Autumn 2025, with key regulations being rolled out across 2026 and 2027, giving organisations time to prepare for the changes. Guidance will be published to support businesses in meeting their new obligations.
The bar is being raised, and the cultural implications for workplaces begin now. Employers who wait until the 2026 deadlines risk getting caught out, these new regulations are not just about compliance but reshaping workplace culture to meet a new standard of safety, transparency and accountability.
Key features of the Employment Rights Bill
Stronger duty to prevent sexual harassment
Currently employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection Act. The law would be strengthened to require employers to take “all” reasonable steps to prevent workplace harassment.
In 2027, the law is expected to change further to specify what ‘reasonable steps’ mean when preventing sexual harassment.
What it means for employers
Compliance impact
Employers will need to show they have taken all reasonable steps, raising the bar for compliance and will require more proactive measures to be put in place including clear policies, regular training, robust reporting mechanisms and ongoing cultural assessments.
Culture impact
Prevention of harmful behaviours will need to become a core part of workplace culture, not just a compliance tick box exercise. Leaders will be expected to model respectful behaviours and set the tone from the top, fostering a speak up culture where harassment is actively challenged.
Third party harassment
Under current legislation employers are not explicitly or directly liable if their employees are harassed by customers, clients or other third parties.
The Bill would make employers liable for third party harassment across all protected characteristics, unless the employer took all reasonable steps to prevent this. This covers all types of harassment, not just sexual harassment.
What it means for employers
Compliance impact
Employers will need to undertake wider risk assessments and review their policies and procedures, particularly in customer facing environments such as healthcare, retail and hospitality to reduce risk. These industries will face much bigger compliance challenges, ensuring they are proactive in preventing harmful behaviour from third parties, putting all reasonable steps in place to prevent staff from harm. Clear and accessible reporting channels will be key to handling complaints.
Culture impact
As employers face more pressure to keep their employees safe from third-party harassment, we may begin to see dynamics shift away from ‘the customer is always right’ mentality, with staff safety taking priority, building trust between employer and employees.
Ban on NDAs in harassment claims
Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) or any other type of agreement that prevents a worker from making allegations or disclosures about harassment or discrimination are also set to be abolished, removing clauses that prevent employees from speaking out about their experiences of work-related harassment or discrimination.
What it means for employers
Compliance impact
Employers will no longer be able to rely on confidentiality agreements to prevent the disclosure of harassment or discrimination. Boards, HR and compliance teams must review their contracts, settlement agreements and grievance procedures to ensure the removal of such clauses.
The removal of NDAs could mean employers and employees are less likely to enter into settlement agreements.
Culture impact
Employees are likely to feel more confident reporting issues knowing they cannot be silenced with NDAs, signalling a shift towards a more transparent and accountable workplace. Employers who are found to break the law or who have previously used NDAs to silence victims may find themselves facing reputational scrutiny, particularly if past practices come to light.
Whistleblowing protections for sexual harassment disclosure
Sexual harassment is expected to become a new category of ‘protected’ disclosure under whistleblowing law, meaning that whistleblowers reporting sexual harassment will get protection from detriment and dismissal when making a disclosure (expected April 2026).
What it means for employers
Compliance impact
Employers will need clear whistleblowing policies and procedures that explicitly include sexual harassment. The Bill signals that sexual harassment is a serious issue and falls squarely within the scope of whistleblowing protection. Mishandling whistleblowing complaints could lead to serious claims and financial penalties at employment tribunal, with a typical whistleblowing claim costing employers £25,000 depending on the severity of harm.
Culture impact
This new duty on employers should reinforce expectations that employees can raise concerns without fear of retaliation and could lead to more employees speaking up about sexual harassment. Organisations should strengthen speak up channels and build trust in reporting.
The Bill significantly increases legal exposure for employers, especially around preventing harassment and third-party conduct, making it clear that the law is pushing employers towards creating a safer, more transparent and accountable workplace culture.
Policies, training and documentation will come under more scrutiny and organisations will need to demonstrate they are actively embedding prevention into everyday culture. It raises the importance of building trust in reporting channels; employers must create an environment where employees feel safe to speak up and that complaints are handled seriously without fear of retaliation.
The standards are being raised for leaders too, they will no longer be judged solely on if they follow the rules but if they are creating a culture that actively prevents harm.
Forward-thinking organisations should begin preparations now by:
- Auditing policies and procedures to ensure they meet the new legal requirements
- Strengthening speak up and reporting channels
- Review whistleblowing, grievance and disciplinary processes
How Culture Shift helps you comply with the Employment Rights Bill
With the Employment Rights Bill placing a positive duty on employers to prevent harassment and whistleblowers, organisations need safe, compliant and auditable ways to manage issues. Culture Shift turns culture into compliance with confidential reporting, case tracking and board-ready analytics that demonstrate action and reduce risk.
Culture Shift is the compliance ready platform for preventing and managing bullying, harassment and misconduct. We don’t just capture misconduct; we help organisations stay ahead of regulation with data driven insights and defensible reporting processes.
Our platform:
- Enables safe, anonymous and auditable channel for employee reporting
- Allows whistleblowing-aligned anonymous reporting
- Creates clear governance trails for internal and external investigations
- Gives you clear data and analytics to identify risk and produce actionable insights
A safe reporting channel not only helps organisations comply with the new laws, but it also helps to reduce cultural risk, retains talent and strengthens organisational trust.
Why Culture Shift?
- Domain expertise: Our team of leading culture transformation experts set us apart and make us much more than just a platform.
- Cross-sector compliance alignment: One platform that meets multiple regulatory frameworks.
- Future-focused: Builds a sustainable speak-up culture while reducing organisational risk.
Get ahead of the Employment Rights Bill now
Don’t wait until 2026 to get started, book a free demo of the Culture Shift platform today to see how we can help you reach new compliance standards, protect your people and build a culture of trust.
