Schools are busy environments, and staff regularly deal with people who are not employed by the school. From 30 October 2026, new employment law strengthens protection for employees who experience harassment from these third parties, which includes pupils and parents/carers, as well as contractors, visitors, suppliers or members of the public. For schools, this is an important reminder that protecting staff from harassment does not stop at managing the behaviour of employees.
The new duty means that an employer must take all reasonable steps to prevent an employee from being harassed. Importantly, this covers harassment under the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment and harassment related to protected characteristics such as race, age and sexual orientation.
What does this mean for schools?
This means that simply dealing with an incident after it happens may not be enough. Schools should be able to demonstrate that they have thought about the risks and put appropriate measures in place.
So don’t wait for something to happen before taking action. Trust leaders, Headteachers and governing bodies should review how they prevent and respond to inappropriate behaviour towards staff.
What should we do?
Review policies
Check your staff conduct, dignity at work, complaints, safeguarding and parent/carer behaviour policies. Make sure they are clear about unacceptable behaviour towards staff.
Complete risk assessments
Think about where staff may be most exposed, such as reception areas, parent meetings, telephone calls, email correspondence, social media and school events.
Set clear expectations
Make sure your expectations about respectful behaviour are clearly communicated. Advise that abusive, threatening, discriminatory or harassing behaviour towards staff will not be tolerated. Your school’s parent/carer code of conduct should include that harassment, discrimination, abuse or intimidation of staff will not be tolerated.
Train leaders and staff
Ensure staff know how to recognise, report and respond to harassment, and that managers understand their responsibilities.
Make reporting easy
Staff need to know who they should speak to if they experience inappropriate behaviour from a third party. Concerns should be taken seriously and dealt with promptly.
Take action
Where inappropriate behaviour occurs, respond promptly and proportionately and keep records of your actions. Consider what reasonable steps are needed to prevent it happening again. This could include setting boundaries with parents or visitors, restricting access to the school where appropriate, setting clear conditions for future communications or taking other appropriate action.
Record incidents
Keep appropriate records of concerns, incidents and actions taken, including repeated inappropriate behaviour by the same individual. A clear audit trail can help demonstrate that the school has taken reasonable steps to protect its employees.
A timely reminder for school leaders
This is not about preventing parents from raising concerns or making legitimate complaints. It is about ensuring that staff can do their jobs without being subjected to harassment or discriminatory behaviour. The Department for Education’s 2026 guidance also emphasises that schools and trusts should take steps to prevent and tackle bullying and harassment of school staff.
The key message for school leaders is simple: don’t just respond to harassment after it happens. Schools should be able to demonstrate that they have considered the risks, put reasonable preventative measures in place and acted when concerns are raised.