Prevention of sexual harassment: new legal requirements
From 26 October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 places a new legal duty on employers to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
What constitutes sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment is defined as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that either violates an individual’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Sexual harassment can be a one-off incident, or an ongoing pattern of behaviour and it can happen in person or online, for example in meetings or through email, social media or messaging tools. Sexual harassment can happen to men, women and people of any sexual orientation. It can be carried out by anyone of the same sex, another sex or anyone of any sexual orientation.
In a professional context, behaviour that might be seen as sexual harassment could include:
• Touching someone against their will, for example hugging them
• Making sexual remarks about someone's body, clothing or appearance
• Asking questions about someone's sex life
• Telling sexually offensive jokes
• Sending inappropriate messages or materials through professional channels
• Making professional opportunities or advancement conditional on sexual conduct.
What some people might consider as joking,‘banter’ or part of their workplace culture can still be sexual harassment.
Third-party sexual harassment
Third-party sexual harassment occurs when an employee is subjected to sexual harassment by someone who is not part of the staff team but who they encounter in connection with their work. For ITI this includes our contractors and suppliers, and – importantly – ITI members.
The new legislation requires employers to carry out a risk assessment and to implement preventative measures. In this case the preventative steps include ensuring that all members are aware that ITI has a zero-tolerance approach to any harassment of our employees. This applies to all our activities, including:
• Conferences
• Professional development events – both in person and online
• Board, committee and working group meetings
• Pnline forums and professional networks
• Assessment and examination settings
Our commitment
As a professional body, ITI maintains high standards of professional conduct and aims to ensure a safe environment for all our members, staff and stakeholders.
We are therefore committed to:
• Making it clear to everyone that ITI will not tolerate sexual harassment
• Encouraging staff to report any incidents of sexual harassment, including situations where they felt at risk but were able to remove themselves from the situation
• Ensuring that any complaints are taken seriously and that appropriate action is taken
By working together, we hope to continue to foster a professional environment where everyone feels safe, respected and valued.
For more information about our harassment policies or to report concerns, please contact ITI’s Chief Executive.
