The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 25) is bringing in sweeping changes to employment law and keeping track of when everything is happening is a complex task. One such change came into force from 6 April 2026; from that date, the definition of “qualifying disclosures” has been extended to include sexual harassment. We look at what this means for employers.
Protected disclosures
A “protected disclosure” is a disclosure of information made by a worker about certain types of wrongdoing that are in the public interest. To qualify as a protected disclosure, the disclosure must relate to one or more of the following:
- criminal offences
- breach of any legal obligation
- miscarriages of justice
- danger to the health and safety of any individual
- damage to the environment
- deliberate concealment of information regarding any of the above
- from 6 April 2026, this list includes sexual harassment that "has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur".
The disclosure must also be in the “public interest”. This means that complaints that are only relevant to the individual making the disclosure do not fall within the whistleblowing protection — it must affect, or have the potential to affect, a wider group.
Whistleblower protection
When an individual makes a whistleblowing complaint, they are protected from suffering a detriment because of this disclosure. Detriments can include disciplinary action for raising concerns, bullying in the workplace or a reduction in overtime, etc. This is designed to encourage individuals to raise whistleblowing concerns without fear of retaliation.
It’s not just detriments that whistleblowers are protected from. Where an employee is dismissed for making a protected disclosure, this is automatically an unfair dismissal. There is no qualifying service for this protection, therefore it protects employees from unfair dismissal from the first day of their employment.
There is also no question of reasonableness brought into whether the dismissal was fair or not, as would be the case in an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. If the reason for dismissal was whistleblowing, then the employment tribunal will find it to be unfair and the employee will be compensated accordingly.
Sexual harassment disclosures now protected
Under the ERA 25, whistleblowing protections were expanded from 6 April 2026 to explicitly include disclosures regarding sexual harassment. In doing this, the Government is taking steps it says will strengthen protections for workers who report or disclose incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Previously, disclosures about sexual harassment may have fallen within the protections under existing categories, such as criminal offences, but this could be a tenuous connection. Now, any ambiguity has been removed and the path to protection is clearer for those who have experienced sexual harassment.
Impact of changes for employers
The impact that the inclusion of sexual harassment will have on the number of protected disclosures being made remains to be seen, as the “public interest” requirement may deter some from seeking to utilise these protections. Employers will need to carefully consider any grievances, etc raised about sexual harassment and assess whether it is appropriate to apply a whistleblowing procedure.
