Harassed by customers or patients? New duty from 30 October 2026

A customer uses a racial slur at the till. A patient makes sexual comments during a night round. Your manager tells you to carry on. You should not have to absorb abuse to finish a shift. Record what happened and ask, in writing, what will change before the next one. From 30 October 2026, a new duty in Great Britain can make your employer liable for harassment by the public if it failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. You can demand action on safety now.

What to do tonight

If you are in immediate danger, get somewhere safe and call 999. You do not need to finish the shift before asking for help.

1. Write down what happened. Record the date, time, place, exact words, actions, witnesses and your manager’s response. Say what you were doing, whether at the till, on a home visit, on a ward, on a call or at a doorstep. Note the effect on you. Keep a secure personal record, without copying confidential patient or customer files.
2. Report it in writing. Email or message your manager and keep a copy you can access if your shifts stop. If the manager is the problem, send it to a more senior manager, HR or the owner. Ask them to preserve relevant CCTV or call recordings.
3. Ask for protection before the next shift. Request the violence and abuse risk assessment. Name a change that would help, such as a colleague on the visit, authority to end an abusive call or a working alarm. Ask for a written reply.
4. Get medical help if you are hurt. Tell the clinician what happened at work. Ask your employer to record the incident and whether it meets the reporting rules. Our injury reporting guide explains the distinction.
5. Record any retaliation separately. Keep rotas before and after your complaint, messages and dates. Losing shifts because of an Equality Act complaint can be a separate claim.
6. Get advice without waiting for the grievance. Contact your union or Acas. An advice enquiry is not notification for early conciliation. In Northern Ireland, use the Labour Relations Agency instead.

Speak to a union rep, or use our guide to finding a union for your job. A union can help you raise the risk across the whole shift rather than face the manager alone. Ask about support for a dispute that has already started before paying for membership. Citizens Advice and law centres are other advice routes. You can ask for a union representative or colleague to accompany you to a formal grievance meeting.

What changes on 30 October 2026

On that Friday, section 21 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 inserts a new rule into the Equality Act. Your employer must not permit a third party to harass you. A third party is anyone who is not your employer and not one of its employees: a customer, a patient, a service user’s family, a guest, a caller, a delivery recipient, a contractor.

The employer “permits” it only if both parts of the new section 40(1B) are met. The third party harassed you in the course of your employment, and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. If it took all those steps, it is not liable under this new duty. An incident alone does not prove the employer’s failure.

There is no three-incident rule in the new duty. The earlier third-party provision, repealed in 2013, required previous incidents and employer knowledge. The new wording requires neither. A single incident can support a claim if the employer failed to take all reasonable preventive steps.

Colleague harassment is a different, older rule. Your employer is already liable for harassment by its own staff in the course of employment, unless it took all reasonable steps to prevent that. This page is about people who do not work for them.

There is already a separate duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by third parties. It has applied since 26 October 2024. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can enforce it without an individual tribunal claim. It does not, by itself, give you a standalone tribunal claim for a customer’s act. Where a section 40 claim involving sexual harassment succeeds and the preventive duty was also breached, a tribunal can add up to 25% to compensation. From 30 October 2026, section 20 raises the preventive standard to “all reasonable steps”, while section 21 creates the new third-party claim. Our sexual harassment guide explains the existing duty.

What counts, and what does not

Harassment, in section 26 of the Equality Act 2010, is unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, with the purpose or effect of violating your dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. The relevant characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Sexual harassment is its own test: unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, with that same purpose or effect. You do not have to share the characteristic.

For the effect test, a tribunal looks at your perception, the other circumstances, and whether it was reasonable for the conduct to have that effect. One comment can be enough. The words matter more than your conclusion. “They were rude” is weaker than what they actually said.

These are examples, not reported cases. A racial slur at the till, sexual comments about a nurse’s body or a caller mocking a worker’s disability can meet the test. A tribunal still has to assess the conduct and its purpose or effect.

A customer swearing about a broken card machine, without a characteristic-related or sexual element, does not meet this Equality Act test. Nor does shouting about the waiting time alone. That does not make it acceptable. Violence, threats and verbal abuse remain safety issues. Our bullying guide covers other possible routes.

Marriage, civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics. They are not harassment characteristics under section 26. Insults about a pregnancy can still be harassment related to sex, or sexual harassment. A wider pregnancy discrimination claim is a different route. Section 21 does not create a third-party pregnancy claim.

The diagram shows when the new third-party duty can apply. Safety duties remain relevant on every route.

Shops, wards, headsets, doorsteps

A regular who spends money is still a third party. So is a patient, a caller or someone receiving a delivery. Their value to the business does not excuse a failure to protect you.

Shops, bars and the doorstep

Refusing a sale, checking age, closing alone and delivering to a doorstep can expose you to abuse. Ask what happens when a customer targets you. Can a manager take over? Can you stop serving them? Who responds to the alarm? Sending you back to the same abusive table to keep its custom is a choice. We do not think workers should bear the cost of that choice.

Care, NHS, ambulances

A patient’s illness changes what a reasonable step looks like. You may not be able to bar them from a ward the way a pub bars a regular. It does not mean the employer can do nothing. Doubling a visit, not leaving you alone with a known risk, a working alarm, a care plan that names the risk: those are the asks. “They have dementia” explains the behaviour. It is not a reason to ignore three written reports.

In the NHS England 2025 staff survey, 25.25% of respondents reported harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, service users or the public in the previous year. Among operational ambulance staff, the figure was 52.07%. The national results briefing uses a broader category than legal harassment. It does not mean all those incidents would support an Equality Act claim. They still warrant a safety response.

Headsets

A caller using racial slurs or making unwanted sexual comments can harass you during your work. Ask for authority to end abusive calls, a clear escalation route and an incident log someone reviews. A manager saying “take the next one” does not address the risk. The new test is about harassment in the course of employment, not whether the person was physically in the building.

What you can demand before 30 October

The new third-party claim is not available yet. Safety duties are. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers in Great Britain to ensure employees’ health, safety and welfare so far as reasonably practicable. The Health and Safety Executive’s violence guidance includes verbal abuse and threats, not only punches.

Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. Ask to see it. Ask when it was last reviewed, whether it names abuse from the public, and what is actually in place on your shift. Not a poster in the staff room. The late shift, the lone visit, the headset with no permission to hang up.

If the employer ignores the risk, involve your union or a safety rep and raise a formal grievance. You can also seek advice about reporting an unmanaged safety risk to the HSE or the local authority responsible for your workplace. Which regulator enforces safety depends on the business. Regulatory action is not a compensation award. Our guides explain the safety duty and violence at work.

All reasonable steps: there is no list yet

Section 22 gives ministers a power to specify reasonable steps for the sexual harassment duty. The power is scheduled to start on 30 October 2026. As at 1 October, no regulations under it set a required checklist. The Act does not prescribe a single list of measures for every shop, ward or call centre.

The EHRC’s eight-step guide and technical guidance explain prevention of sexual harassment. They are guidance, not the new regulations. Risk assessments, usable reporting systems, training and action after complaints can matter. For your job, ask about staffing, call-ending rules, alarms, security or changes to visits. What is reasonable depends on the risks and circumstances.

“All reasonable steps” does not mean every imaginable measure. It does mean an employer cannot rely on one measure if it left further reasonable steps undone. A policy on the intranet does not settle that question. Ask what is actually in place for your role and keep the response.

If your shifts disappear

Section 27 of the Equality Act protects certain acts, including alleging a breach of the Act or doing something in connection with it. A harassment complaint can qualify, but not every complaint about rude behaviour does. Dismissal, fewer hours or worse shifts because of a protected act can be victimisation. There is no minimum service requirement. Explain any sexual or characteristic-related conduct in your report and record what changes afterwards.

Whistleblowing and health and safety protections may also apply, but they have their own tests. Since 6 April 2026, sexual harassment is expressly included as a possible subject of a protected disclosure. You still need a qualifying disclosure, including a reasonable belief that it is in the public interest, made through a protected route. Dismissal principally because of a protected disclosure is automatically unfair, with no qualifying service. Read our whistleblowing guide. If you are dismissed, get advice immediately. An interim relief application for whistleblowing dismissal has a seven-day deadline following the effective date of termination. Do not wait for conciliation or an internal appeal.

If your hours stop after a complaint, save the last rota, the complaint and the next blank week. You do not need a dismissal letter to raise a possible victimisation claim. Zero-hours contracts explains why your contract’s label does not decide your rights.

What a claim is worth, and how long you have

Harassment is a discrimination claim. Injury to feelings follows the Vento bands. For claims presented on or after 6 April 2026, the Presidential Guidance sets a lower band of £1,300 to £12,600, a middle band of £12,600 to £37,700, and an upper band of £37,700 to £62,900. Exceptional cases can go above that. The bands guide the assessment of harm. They are not a price list. Financial loss sits on top, and it is not capped. A discrimination award is not subject to the unfair dismissal cap. These are not Northern Ireland figures. There is no minimum service.

The normal Equality Act tribunal limit is now six months less one day where the relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026. Every claim under the new third-party duty starts with conduct on or after 30 October, so it falls under that longer limit. An isolated act before 1 October keeps the earlier three-month limit. For conduct extending over a period, the end of that period can be the relevant date. Separate incidents do not automatically form one continuing act. SI 2026/954 sets the transitional rule. Get advice if incidents straddle either change.

A grievance does not stop the clock. Neither does an appeal, a police investigation, or a promise that HR will look next month. Notify Acas inside the original limit if you may need a claim. You can keep talking to the employer after that. How to raise a grievance.

1. 26 Oct 2024Sexual harassment prevention

   In force. Employers must take reasonable steps, including against third-party sexual harassment.

2. 6 Apr 2026Sexual harassment disclosures

   In force. Expressly included as a possible subject of protected whistleblowing, if the other tests are met.

3. 1 Oct 2026Longer tribunal limits

   In force. The normal Equality Act limit becomes six months less one day where the relevant date is on or after this day.

4. 30 Oct 2026Third-party duty and higher preventive standard

   Scheduled. The new third-party harassment claim starts, and sexual harassment prevention moves to “all reasonable steps”. The regulation-making power starts too, not a ready-made checklist.

5. 1 Jan 2027Ordinary unfair dismissal qualifying period

   Scheduled to fall from two years to six months where the effective date of termination is on or after this day. Harassment and victimisation claims already need no minimum service.

Agency, zero-hours, self-employed

The new duty protects an “employee”, but the Equality Act uses a wider meaning than ordinary unfair dismissal law. Section 83 includes employment, apprenticeships and a contract personally to do work. Zero-hours staff and other workers required to do the work themselves can therefore be covered. Calling you self-employed does not decide it. If you genuinely run an independent business, this employment protection may not apply. Read our guide to employment status.

Agency staff should report to both the agency and the hirer. Do not let each send you back to the other. The agency may be your employer for the new duty. The hirer already has duties towards contract workers under section 41, including protection from harassment by the hirer or its staff. Section 21 does not expressly add a matching third-party provision to section 41. Whether you can claim against the hirer for customer harassment needs advice on the working relationship and the legal route. Lack of control over the site does not itself establish that the agency has no reasonable steps to take. Keep both organisations’ replies. See agency workers’ rights.

A genuine volunteer without a qualifying work contract is generally outside the Equality Act’s employment provisions. Unpaid does not always mean volunteer, so check your status. Criminal law and relevant safety duties still matter. An assault does not become lawful because you are unpaid.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

England, Wales and Scotland share the new Equality Act duty, its scheduled 30 October start and Acas early conciliation. Scotland also has the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) Act 2021, which criminalises assault, threats or abuse of retail workers carrying out their work, subject to its statutory tests. Its definition includes relevant delivery work. Not every rude remark is a criminal offence.

Northern Ireland is outside this reform. Employment discrimination law there uses separate legislation, with claims to the industrial tribunal or fair employment tribunal and Labour Relations Agency early conciliation, not Acas. Many claims have a three-month time limit, subject to Northern Ireland’s own rules and conciliation adjustments. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is the equality advice body. The Great Britain safety provisions above are not its regime. Start with our Northern Ireland guide and get your deadline checked locally.

Questions people ask

A customer is harassing you. What can you do right now?

Get somewhere safe if you are in danger. Record the words, actions, date, witnesses and your manager’s response. Report it in writing and ask for protection before the next shift. Contact your union or Acas. Do not resign to force a reply. Do not wait for the new duty before raising a safety risk.

Does swearing or rudeness count?

Not on its own under this Equality Act test. The conduct must meet the harassment definition, including a relevant characteristic-related or sexual element. General abuse can still breach safety duties. Report it without trying to turn it into a different incident.

Is your employer liable for what a patient or customer does?

From 30 October 2026 in Great Britain, the new duty can apply if the third party harassed you during your employment and your employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. Before then, that new claim is unavailable. Existing safety duties, sexual harassment prevention and claims about your employer’s own conduct may still matter.

Does this cover NHS and care staff?

Yes, where you have the required employment relationship. Patients, service users and their families can be third parties. Illness affects what protective steps are reasonable; it does not remove the duty. An alarm, changed staffing or a safer visit arrangement may be appropriate. You can ask for a risk assessment now.

Must your employer know it happened before?

The new duty has no prior-incident or prior-knowledge requirement. One incident can be enough. You still have to show the employer failed to take all reasonable preventive steps. Earlier complaints can help establish the risk it should have addressed.

What if you have missed the deadline?

Get advice immediately. Late Acas notification does not restore the normal time limit. A tribunal can allow an Equality Act claim outside it where an extension is just and equitable, but that is not guaranteed. The normal limit for the new third-party claim is six months less one day, adjusted by timely early conciliation. A grievance does not pause it.

Sources

1. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 21, third-party harassment, legislation.gov.uk
2. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 20, all reasonable steps, legislation.gov.uk
3. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 22, regulation-making power, legislation.gov.uk
4. SI 2026/1065, regulation 3, commencement on 30 October 2026, legislation.gov.uk, made 1 October 2026
5. SI 2026/954, tribunal time-limit commencement and transitional provisions, legislation.gov.uk
6. Equality Act 2010, section 26, definition of harassment, legislation.gov.uk
7. Equality Act 2010, section 27, victimisation, legislation.gov.uk
8. Equality Act 2010, section 41, contract workers, legislation.gov.uk
9. Equality Act 2010, section 83, employment definition, legislation.gov.uk
10. Worker Protection Act 2023, section 3, legislation.gov.uk
11. Equality Act 2010, section 124A, sexual harassment compensation uplift, legislation.gov.uk
12. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 128, interim relief deadline, legislation.gov.uk
13. Equality Act 2010, section 123, time limits and just and equitable extensions, legislation.gov.uk
14. Equality Act 2010, section 140B, early conciliation adjustments, legislation.gov.uk
15. Employment tribunal time limits, early conciliation and late claims, Acas
16. Eight-step guide to preventing sexual harassment at work, EHRC
17. Sexual harassment and harassment at work, technical guidance, EHRC
18. Vento bands, ninth addendum, 30 March 2026, Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
19. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2, legislation.gov.uk
20. Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, legislation.gov.uk
21. Violence at work, Health and Safety Executive
22. Plan to Make Work Pay, implementation timeline, GOV.UK
23. Freedom From Fear survey 2025, Usdaw, March 2026
24. NHS Staff Survey 2025 national results briefing, NHS England and Picker
25. Tribunal statistics quarterly, April to June 2026, Ministry of Justice, 10 September 2026
26. Early conciliation, nidirect