Ryan FowlerA new survey has revealed that sexual harassment remains widespread and underreported in UK workplaces, as the Government moves forward with legal reforms to increase employer accountability.
According to the Unite the Union survey of more than 23,000 workers, 60% of women said they had experienced sexual harassment at some point in their working lives. In Scotland, that figure was nearly 40%. The majority of those affected did not report the incidents, citing fears of not being believed or of facing retaliation. Many said they did not know how or where to report what had happened.
The findings come as the Government confirms that its new Employment Rights Bill will include a ban on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of workplace abuse. The legislation will also strengthen employers’ obligations around preventing and responding to harassment, expanding on the Worker Protection Act that came into force in 2024.
Ruth Sparkes, co-founder of the reporting platform SaferSpace, said the survey results were “sadly unsurprising”. Sparkes said: “This confirms what many of us already knew. The reality for a huge number of workers, especially women and young people, is that they experience harassment and don’t report it. Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes it’s uncertainty. Often it’s because they’ve seen what happens when others try to speak up.”
Sparkes, a former Royal Navy engineer, cited the death of soldier Jaysley Beck in 2021 following sustained harassment by a senior officer as “a tragic example of what happens when systems fail the people they are supposed to protect”.
Launched in 2024, SaferSpace provides a secure digital platform for reporting workplace concerns. The app allows anonymous or named submissions, supports triage by HR or safeguarding leads, and includes an Equality Act-based chatbot to help users understand their rights. All reports are logged and auditable, with oversight dashboards for governance teams.
The wider context includes a string of high-profile cases, with McDonald’s UK receiving over 1,000 harassment reports and Harrods facing more than 250 complaints. More than 100 members of the armed forces have been dismissed in recent years for harassment-related misconduct.
Sparkes said stronger laws were a necessary step, but called for real cultural change. “We keep asking people to speak up, but we’ve done far less to make sure they’re heard. That has to change. Policies are not protection if they exist only on paper,” she said.
SaferSpace is currently being piloted across organisations in healthcare, education, retail and logistics.
