Why Join the Course
The introduction of the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment represents one of the most significant changes to workplace equality law in recent years. For police forces, understanding these enhanced legal obligations is essential to protecting officers, staff and volunteers, maintaining public confidence, and creating a safe and respectful working environment.
This webinar explores the current legal framework under the Equality Act 2010, with a particular focus on discrimination, harassment and the practical implications of the new positive duty placed on employers.
Why It Matters
The Equality Act 2010 protects police officers, police staff and applicants from discrimination, harassment and victimisation in the workplace. Recent legislative changes have strengthened employers’ responsibilities to take proactive steps to prevent unlawful behaviour before it occurs.
Key developments include:
October 2024: The introduction of a positive legal duty requiring employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees by colleagues and third parties, including members of the public, contractors and partner organisations.
October 2026: The extension of employer duties to address third-party harassment relating to all protected characteristics, including race, disability, religion, sex and sexual orientation.
Understanding these changes will help policing organisations reduce legal risk, support workforce wellbeing, strengthen organisational culture and demonstrate compliance with their statutory obligations.
Who Should Attend
This webinar is ideal for:
- Police leaders and supervisors
- HR and People Services professionals
- Professional Standards and Ethics teams
- Learning and Development practitioners
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) leads
- Anyone responsible for managing people, developing policy or supporting workplace culture within policing
- Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
- Understand the protections against discrimination, harassment and victimisation provided by the Equality Act 2010.
- Explain what the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment requires of policing employers.
- Identify the reasonable steps organisations should take to comply with the law and reduce the risk of workplace harassment.
- Understand the legal implications of third-party harassment and the forthcoming extension of employer duties from October 2026.
- Recognise the practical actions police forces can take to foster a respectful, inclusive and legally compliant working environment.
- Apply good practice to support organisational compliance, workforce wellbeing and public confidence.
This version aligns much more closely with the webinar title by making the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment the central theme, while still covering the wider discrimination and harassment framework that attendees will need to understand.
