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Equality and Diversity Training: What the Law Expects, Why Stale Training Fails in Tribunal and How to Choose a Course

Equality and diversity training is not a legal requirement in itself for most UK employers, but it is one of the main ways an employer shows a tribunal it took "all reasonable steps" to stop discrimination and harassment, and a tribunal will look hard at whether that training was any good. Since October 2024 employers also have a positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. This page explains where the law stands, what a court case taught employers about box-ticking courses, what good training covers and how to choose a provider.

What the law actually requires

The Equality Act 2010 protects workers from discrimination, harassment and victimisation because of nine protected characteristics. It does not say employers must run equality training. What it does is make employers liable for discrimination and harassment carried out by their staff in the course of employment, whether or not the employer knew about it, unless the employer can show it took all reasonable steps to prevent it. That defence, in section 109(4), is where training comes in: tribunals expect to see a clear policy, training that people actually understood, and managers who acted on complaints.

Two further duties raise the stakes:

• The duty to prevent sexual harassment. The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 added a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers, from 26 October 2024. If a tribunal upholds a sexual harassment claim and finds the employer breached this duty, it can increase compensation by up to 25%. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's guidance on the duty treats training as one of the steps it expects. Our guide to writing a sexual harassment policy covers the policy side.
• The public sector equality duty. Public bodies, and organisations carrying out public functions, must have due regard to eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations. Training staff is a common way of showing that.

Why stale training fails: Allay v Gehlen

In Allay (UK) Ltd v Gehlen, decided by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in 2021, an employee was racially harassed by a colleague. The employer had given staff equality and diversity training and tried to rely on the all reasonable steps defence. It failed. The training had been delivered some time before, and the evidence showed it had worn off: the harasser and the managers who knew about the comments had not acted as the training said they should. The tribunal found the training was stale and that a reasonable step would have been to refresh it.

The lessons are practical. A one-off induction module is not enough. Training needs refreshing, it needs to be more than a click-through, and the employer needs to be able to show that people understood it and that managers acted on what they learned.

What good equality and diversity training covers

1. The law in plain terms: the nine protected characteristics and the main forms of unlawful conduct, including direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and failure to make reasonable adjustments for disability.
2. Your own policies: what your organisation's equality, harassment and grievance policies say and how to use them.
3. Real behaviour: realistic scenarios from your sector, such as "banter", comments in group chats, hiring decisions and requests for adjustments.
4. Bystander action: what to do if you see or hear something, and how to raise it.
5. Manager duties: how to handle a complaint, record it and avoid victimising the person who raised it. Managers need deeper training than other staff.
6. Inclusive practice: fair recruitment, promotion and day-to-day management, so the training goes beyond avoiding claims.

Many courses include unconscious bias content. Evidence on whether unconscious bias training changes behaviour on its own is mixed, so treat it as one part of a programme, not the whole of it.

How often to train

There is no fixed legal interval. Most employers train at induction, refresh at least every one to two years, and add extra sessions when the law changes, after a complaint, or when someone becomes a manager. Keep records of who completed what and when, and test understanding with a short assessment or discussion. If the content has not changed in years, the Gehlen case suggests a tribunal may see it as stale.

Choosing a course or provider

Before you buy, ask the provider whether the course reflects the October 2024 sexual harassment duty, whether it can be tailored to your sector and policies, how it checks understanding, and what records you get. Make sure the course is up to date with the Equality Act and current EHRC guidance.

Making training part of a wider programme

Training works best when it sits inside a culture where people can speak up. Pair it with a clear whistleblowing policy, managers who model the behaviour (see our guide to ethical leadership), and regular discussion of workplace dilemmas. For other mandatory or near-mandatory courses, see our guides to DSE training and PAT test training.

More practical guides on the E-Business Ethics homepage.