Introduction

Employment Rights Act 2025

Employment Rights Act 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 raises expectations around how employers assess and manage safety risks - particularly where staff interact with customers, patients, contractors, or the public, and where people work alone or off-site.

Employers are now required to take all reasonable steps to prevent harm, rather than relying on how effectively incidents are handled after the fact. This formalises a move towards proactive, prevention-based safety management and shifts responsibility away from individual employees and onto the organisation.

This includes taking foreseeable steps to prevent harassment, abuse, violence, and threatening behaviour from third parties, as well as managing risks associated with lone working, remote working, and high-risk environments.

This guide explains what employers should be doing now to meet these obligations, and how technology can support a consistent, auditable approach to compliance.

Compliance Check

Use this audit checklist to identify your compliance gaps. If you've already completed the check on our website, skip to the results.

Have you conducted a specific risk assessment for harassment from non-employees (customers, patients, contractors)?

Does your risk assessment account for high-risk variables like working alone, late-night shifts, or locations with poor signal?

Are your staff explicitly empowered - in writing - to withdraw from a threatening situation without fear of disciplinary action?

Is an employee's "Right to Disengage" documented in your Employee Handbook?

Do you have visible signage in public-facing areas stating a zero-tolerance policy toward staff abuse?

Compliance Check

Use this audit checklist to identify your compliance gaps. If you've already completed the check on our website, skip to the results.

Can you demonstrate that you’ve communicated these expectations to your clients or service users?

Have staff received tailored training on de-escalation and bystander intervention in the last 12 months?

Is there specific training for managers on how to handle reports of third-party harassment?

Can you provide a documented audit trail of the actions taken after a near-miss or incident was reported?

Is there a formal process for updating risk assessments following a reported threat?

What Your Results Mean

Each “No” answer in the checklist highlights a specific area where your current controls, policies, training, or documentation may not yet meet emerging legal and regulatory expectations.

These gaps do not necessarily mean your organisation has failed in its duty of care - but they do indicate where additional action is now required to demonstrate that reasonable and proportionate steps are in place.

Regulators, tribunals, and claimants increasingly look for evidence that risks were anticipated, preventative measures were implemented, and incidents were properly recorded and acted upon.

The following sections explain the practical steps employers should now be taking, and how those actions can be supported and evidenced.