The new duty will require schools to take a proactive approach to manage the risk of workplace sexual harassment, including in respect of the risk of harassment by third parties, which could include pupils, parents and other visitors to the school including third party contractors. Schools who fail to take such steps risk a compensation uplift of up to 25% in the event of a successful claim against them. Given that compensation awards for harassment claims are uncapped, there could be a high cost of failure to comply with the new duty.
In order to effectively prepare for the new duty, schools should reflect on their current sexual harassment strategy, and make improvements where necessary. It is also sensible to make contemporaneous records to explain the organisation's strategy and approach over time. This ensures that appropriate evidence can be presented to the Tribunal in the event of a future claim. For more information on preparing for the new duty, please read our recent in-depth article.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now concluded a short consultation on proposed updates to its technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work. We are expecting the updated guidance to be confirmed imminently, following which schools will be able to update their employment polices as required in ordered to comply with the updated guidance. For those schools with our policies we will ensure they take into account the technical guidance, once it is finalised.
As part of your school's preparations for the new law on sexual harassment, you may wish to review and update your school's staff training offering. We have developed a suite of bitesize courses on equality, diversity and inclusion to help you ensure staff are aware of their responsibilities. Our eLearning lets you upload related policies for staff and track training completion through simple online reports.