GPAtlasWhat it covers
What the Equality Act 2010 counts as sexual harassment, including worse treatment for turning it down or going along with it, and when it is also a crime. What the practice does when a patient or visitor is the harasser, how a colleague can step in, report it and support the person, and where help is. A final module for partners and managers on the duty to prevent it, the change to all reasonable steps due on 30 October 2026, risk assessment, complaints and the NHS sexual safety charter.
Who it is for
Everyone who works in the practice: reception and administration, healthcare assistants, nurses, pharmacists, GPs, trainees and locums. The final module is for partners, practice managers and anyone who takes or investigates a complaint.
By the end you will be able to
- Recognise sexual harassment in law, including worse treatment for rejecting or submitting to it.
- Respond when a patient, relative or visitor sexually harasses a member of staff.
- Step in safely as a bystander, report it, and respond well to a disclosure.
- Know where support is, and when harassment is also a crime.
- Explain the employer's preventative duty and the changes due on 30 October 2026.
- Partners and managers: assess risk, set policy, handle complaints and apply the NHS charter.
Modules
- Recognising sexual harassment
- Patients and other third parties
- Speaking up and getting support
- For partners and managers
Your practice's own policy names the people you report to and the support it offers; this course explains the national law and guidance behind it. The Employment Rights Act 2025 changes are due to come into force on 30 October 2026, on the government's timetable; the course teaches the law as it stands and marks what is due to change.
Content mapped to the Equality Act 2010 (sections 26, 40 and 40A), the Equality and Human Rights Commission's technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work, Acas guidance on preventing sexual harassment, and NHS England's sexual safety in healthcare charter. Law named: Equality Act 2010, sections 26, 27, 40 and 40A (section 40A inserted by the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023); Employment Rights Act 2025 changes due on 30 October 2026.
Sources
- Equality Act 2010, section 26: harassment, including subsections (2) sexual harassment and (3) less favourable treatment for rejecting or submitting
- Equality Act 2010, section 40A: employer duty to prevent sexual harassment of employees (inserted by the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, in force 26 October 2024)
- Equality Act 2010, section 40: employees and applicants, harassment (subsections (1A) to (1C) on third parties are to be inserted by section 21 of the Employment Rights Act 2025; not in force on 27 September 2026)
- Equality Act 2010, section 124A: compensation uplift of up to 25% in sexual harassment cases
- Equality Act 2010, section 109: liability of employers, and the all reasonable steps defence
- Equality Act 2010, section 110: liability of employees and agents
- Equality Act 2010, section 27: victimisation
- Employment Rights Act 2025, sections 20 to 23: all reasonable steps, harassment by third parties, power to specify reasonable steps, disclosures about sexual harassment (sections 20 to 22 shown as prospective, with no commencement regulations, on 27 September 2026; section 23 in force 6 April 2026 by SI 2026/323)
- Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/954, made 1 September 2026: the latest commencement regulations on 27 September 2026, none of which commences sections 20 to 22
- Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update (Department for Business and Trade, updated 25 September 2026): the harassment measures are due to take effect on 30 October 2026
- Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 3: sexual assault
- Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 66: exposure
- Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 66A: sending etc photograph or film of genitals
- Sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance (Equality and Human Rights Commission, last updated 26 September 2024, being updated for the 2026 changes), paragraphs 1.1, 1.11 to 1.12, 1.19 to 1.28, 3.5 to 3.6, 3.16 to 3.42, 4.10 to 4.15, 4.18 to 4.23, 4.29 to 4.44, 4.51, 4.58 to 4.59, 4.63, 4.66 to 4.83; read from the Wayback copy of 25 September 2026 because the live page refuses automated reading
- What sexual harassment is (Acas)
- Preventing sexual harassment: steps for employers (Acas)
- Creating a sexual harassment policy (Acas)
- Handling a sexual harassment complaint (Acas)
- Witnessing sexual harassment (Acas)
- If you've been sexually harassed at work (Acas)
- Specialist help and support after sexual harassment (Acas)
- Employment Rights Act 2025: sexual harassment law changes due from 30 October 2026 (Acas, updated 26 August 2026)
- Employment Rights Act 2025: third party harassment due from 30 October 2026, naming healthcare patients (Acas, updated 26 August 2026)
- Sexual safety in healthcare: organisational charter (NHS England, published 4 September 2023, updated 19 May 2026; read from the Wayback copy of 6 June 2026)
- An update on actions to prevent sexual misconduct in the NHS, PRN02125 (NHS England letter, 5 December 2025): actions for primary care providers; read from the Wayback copy of 21 April 2026
- Sexual safety of NHS staff and patients, PR00518 (NHS England letter, 2023): support routes including sexual assault referral centres and the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line
- Violence prevention and reduction standard, version 2 (NHS England, 3 December 2024): applies to providers under primary care contracts
- National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015, Schedule 3 paragraph 24: removal from the list at the request of the contractor
- National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015, Schedule 3 paragraph 25: removal from the list of patients who are violent
- Immediate removal and the Special Allocation Scheme (Primary Care Support England): police incident number immediately or within 7 days; the practice decides whether the criteria in NHS England's policy and guidance manual, section 7, are met
- 2025 NHS Staff Survey national results briefing: unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature, q17a 9.07% from patients or the public, q17b 3.51% from colleagues (trust staff)
- Want to talk? The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, 0808 500 2222 (Rape Crisis England and Wales)
- Understanding sexual misconduct in the workplace (NHS England elearning for healthcare), the national e-learning module on sexual safety awareness named in PRN02125; read from the Wayback copy of 12 March 2026
- Mandatory training for practice staff (Wessex LMCs, reviewed 29 April 2026)
- Help after rape and sexual assault, including sexual assault referral centres (NHS website)
GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.