Yet one of the most common questions we hear from HR teams and employers is:
“How often should we actually be delivering this training?”
The short answer?
At least once a year — and more frequently if the law changes, your business grows, or an incident occurs.
Here’s why frequency matters — and how often your team should really be trained to minimise legal risk and maximise culture.
Why Annual Training Is the Gold Standard
With employment law constantly evolving — and recent changes dramatically increasing potential compensation payouts — deliver sexual harassment training at least once every 12 months, or whenever new legislation is introduced.
Regular training keeps the information fresh in employees’ minds. Importantly, annual training is widely recognised by UK employment tribunals as a ‘reasonable step’ in preventing harassment and can be a crucial part of your legal defence if a claim is made.
When Should You Train More Often?
While annual training is a great baseline, certain triggers should prompt more frequent sessions:
After a Workplace Incident
If any complaint, misconduct, or harassment investigation takes place, it’s vital to deliver refresher training to the team (or specific individuals) immediately. This shows proactive responsibility and can form part of a legal defence.
When New Employees Join
Every new hire poses a new risk and should complete sexual harassment training. This sets the tone from day one and ensures standards of behaviour are understood from the outset.
Following Policy or Law Changes
If your business updates its sexual harassment policies, or if national laws change — such as the new Sexual Harassment Duty (October 2024) — retrain your team to ensure everyone is up to speed on the new rules. That way, if an incident occurs, it’s their responsibility on the line — not your business.
When Moving to Remote or Hybrid Work
The dynamics of harassment shift significantly in digital environments. If you’ve gone remote or hybrid, training should be updated to reflect online-specific scenarios (e.g., inappropriate messages or exclusion in video meetings).
What the Law Says
Under UK employment law, businesses are expected to take “all reasonable steps” and a proactive approach to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. If a claim is made and your business hasn’t trained staff recently, it will be difficult to argue that you’ve met this duty.
In recent tribunal cases, employers lost claims not because of malicious intent — but because their training was outdated, inconsistent, or non-existent.
Make It Easy with 35-Minute E-Learning
If delivering training sounds like a burden, we’ve made it easy with our CPD-accredited Sexual Harassment E-Learning Course:
- Takes just 35 minutes to complete
- Accessible anywhere, anytime
- Provides a downloadable certificate to show your company commitment
- Is updated to reflect the latest legal standards
- Written by award-winning employment lawyers
- Serves as evidence of compliance in the event of a tribunal claim
- Just £29 per employee
Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
The cost of a short, effective course is nothing compared to the legal fees, disruption, and reputational damage caused by a harassment claim.