What Evidence Should Firms Hold to Show They Took “All” Reasonable Steps to Prevent Sexual Harassment?

# Context and urgency Act 2025 raises employers' legal obligations to prevent sexual harassment, explicitly covering harassment by third parties such as clients, counterparties, and visitors. At the same time, the Financial Conduct Authority's expanded non‑financial misconduct rules broaden conduct standards for regulated firms and link harassment failings to senior manager accountability.

# What firms need to prove When asked to show that "all reasonable steps" were taken to prevent sexual harassment, firms should be able to produce contemporaneous, concrete evidence across several categories. The focus is on demonstrable process and records rather than aspirational policies.

# Practical evidence checklist

• Policies and audits: keep a dated copy of your anti‑harassment policy, any third‑party harassment clauses, and a documented audit of those documents and of conduct standards at each site. Name the person who conducted the audit and keep the audit findings.

• Risk assessments: preserve site‑specific risk assessments that identify exposure to third‑party harassment and steps taken to mitigate those risks.

• Training records: run and record refresher training that covers third‑party harassment. Keep dated attendance lists and training materials. The guidance prefers in‑person or live sessions over click‑through modules where possible.

• Contractual controls: embed acceptable‑conduct terms in client and supplier contracts. Retain executed versions and records of how those clauses were enforced when incidents arose.

• Reporting and escalation: document clear reporting routes and escalation paths to an appropriately skilled person. Keep records that show how employees were told where to report and how escalations were handled.

• Complaint logs and investigations: log every complaint with dates and the steps taken. For each investigation, keep the investigator's mandate, scope, contemporaneous notes, interview records, findings, and rationale for any decisions.

• Protective measures: record specific steps taken to protect affected employees (for example, workplace adjustments, separation of parties, temporary role changes) and the timing of those steps.

• Retention and limitation periods: review retention policies so you can produce records that align with the new six‑month Employment Tribunal limitation period. Keep the retention rationale and any changes to policy in writing.

# now Start by auditing existing policies, training provision, and contract clauses and create a dated record of that audit. Remediate gaps in training delivery and attendance capture. Ensure reporting routes are visible and that there is a named, skilled owner for escalations. Update retention schedules to preserve evidence needed for tribunal or regulatory review.

# Why these items matter Regulators and tribunals assess whether an employer took reasonable steps by looking at what the employer actually documented and did. Proactive, dated, and specific records show the firm thought through risks, implemented controls, and responded when incidents occurred. Where records are missing, it is harder to show those steps were taken.

# Takeaway Collect and maintain concrete, dated evidence across policy, training, contracts, reporting, investigations, protective actions, and retention. These items form the core demonstration that an employer took reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by third parties.