Workplace bullying in the UK: your rights, explained plainly

Bullying at work is not, in itself, unlawful in Great Britain. There is no statute you can point to that says bullying is prohibited and here is your remedy. That is why so many people find the system baffling: the behaviour is universally condemned and almost never directly actionable.

What you have instead are four routes, and most real cases run down one or more of them:

1. Equality Act 2010

   If the behaviour relates to a protected characteristic, it is harassment and you can claim directly.

2. Health and safety law

   Your employer must assess and manage risks to your health, including work related stress.

3. Your employment contract

   Every contract contains an implied duty of mutual trust and confidence. Serious breaches can support constructive dismissal.

4. Protection from Harassment Act 1997

   A course of conduct amounting to harassment can, in serious cases, give a civil claim with a six year limit.

Under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010, harassment is unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic which has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you.

The protected characteristics are:

Three points people commonly miss. First, the conduct only has to be related to a characteristic, so you can be harassed because of someone else's characteristic, or because of one wrongly assumed about you. Second, intention is not required: effect is enough, judged with regard to your perception and whether it was reasonable for the conduct to have that effect. Third, Equality Act protection applies from day one of employment, and to workers, job applicants and contractors, not only employees with two years of service.

• Provide a safe place of work. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the 1999 Management Regulations, employers must assess risks to health, and the HSE treats work related stress as one of those risks.
• Not breach trust and confidence. Tolerating known bullying, or failing to investigate a grievance properly, can itself be a breach of the implied term in your contract.
• Take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. Since 26 October 2024, the Worker Protection Act places a proactive preventative duty on employers, and a tribunal can uplift a sexual harassment award by up to 25 per cent where it has been breached.
• Follow their own policies and the Acas Code. A grievance procedure that exists on paper and is ignored in practice is evidence, not a defence.
• Not victimise you for complaining. Treating you badly because you raised a discrimination or harassment complaint in good faith is separately unlawful.

Employers can also be vicariously liable for harassment carried out by their staff, unless they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent it. This is why written reports matter so much: once you have reported it in writing, the reasonable steps defence becomes much harder to run.

The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures is the benchmark a tribunal will use. It is short, free and worth reading in full. In practice it expects the following.

1. Try to resolve it informally first where that is reasonable and safe. If it is not safe, say so in writing and explain why.
2. Put your grievance in writing, setting out specific incidents with dates and witnesses, the effect on you, the policies you say have been breached, and the outcome you are seeking.
3. Attend a hearing without unreasonable delay, and bring a companion. You have a statutory right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative.
4. Receive a decision in writing, with a right of appeal, and appeal in writing if you are not satisfied.

Before lodging most employment tribunal claims you must notify Acas early conciliation. It is free, and it pauses the limitation clock while it runs. Conciliation is often how these cases actually resolve, without a hearing.

The usual deadline is three months less one day from the act complained of, or from the last act where there has been a continuing course of conduct. Waiting for a grievance or an appeal to conclude does not extend it. That single mistake ends more cases than any legal argument.

Since 2017 there are no tribunal fees. Compensation for discrimination and harassment is uncapped and can include an award for injury to feelings, assessed using the Vento bands. Constructive dismissal claims are harder: you must show a fundamental breach, that you resigned in response to it, and that you did not delay so long that you appeared to accept it.

1. Acas

   Free, impartial workplace advice and early conciliation. 0300 123 1100.

2. Your trade union

   Representation at hearings, and often legal cover. Join before a problem arises where you can.

3. Citizens Advice

   Free guidance on employment rights and tribunal procedure.

4. Employment solicitor

   Many offer a free first call. Check legal expenses cover on your home insurance first.

5. Your GP

   Both care and record. Ask for the work related cause to be noted.

6. Samaritans

   Free, day or night, on 116 123, if things feel unmanageable.