Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted
Widespread sexual harassment and abuse persists in the music industry with high non-reporting.
Conclusion
Sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry remains widespread. Aggressors act with impunity while victims who report actions against them very often face further harm by doing so. It is disappointing but not surprising, that non-reporting is high. Organisations should not assume a low incidence of reported cases means they do not have perpetrators of harassment and sexual abuse within their employment. They should instead reflect on why anonymous surveys in the industry return high figures of misconduct, yet their internal surveys do not. (Conclusion, Paragraph 108)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the widespread issue of sexual harassment and highlights the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, which will introduce a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment from October 2024, including a compensation uplift for breaches.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Equality Act 2010 provides legal protections against sexual harassment in the workplace. In response to the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s fifth report of session 2017–19, the Government held a public consultation and public questionnaire about the effectiveness of anti-harassment law. Following this, we supported the passing of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, which will introduce a duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees from October 2024. The employer duty will send a strong signal to employers that they need to take action to prioritise prevention of sexual harassment and ultimately improve workplace practices and culture. In each sexual harassment case, where the tribunal has found in favour of the victim and also concluded that there has been a breach of the employer duty, the employment tribunal judge may order an uplift of up to 25% on the compensation awarded for the sexual harassment. The Government has no current plans to reintroduce employer liability for third-party harassment.