Reflects outcomes of the
Harman Review
Harman Review
Builds evidence of
"reasonable steps"
"reasonable steps"
Includes training elements of Bar Council Toolkit
Supports compliance with the Worker Protection Act
Written for employed personnel.
The Bar Standards Board and Bar Council expect chambers to build a culture where bullying and harassment aren't tolerated — for everyone in chambers, not just those the BSB regulates directly. Employees and workers are covered by the Worker Protection Act specifically, on top of the Equality Act that applies to everyone — and not by the BSB Conduct Rules. This programme aligns with BSB and Bar Council expectations and also covers the contractual, policy and behavioural content that Employment Tribunals are expected to scrutinise when they look at bullying and harassment, with staff-specific examples throughout. It also gives your people a clear view of the reporting routes and the support open to them.
Reasonable steps and the change ahead.
Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From October 2026 the Employment Rights Act 2025 raises this to 'all reasonable steps' and introduces a separate duty making employers liable for harassment by third parties, across any relevant protected characteristic (so not just sex).
EHRC guidance points to risk assessments, up-to-date policies and role-specific training as the evidence expected.
Comprehensive gives you that evidence in depth. Foundation gives you the essentials, quickly.
EHRC guidance points to risk assessments, up-to-date policies and role-specific training as the evidence expected.
Comprehensive gives you that evidence in depth. Foundation gives you the essentials, quickly.
Choose your programme level.
Comprehensive
£180 (plus VAT)
Per person
£150 (plus VAT) for 100 or more licenses
112 minutes | Six modules
For a deeper understanding of the contractual, policy and behavioural obligations involved & extended scenarios. Assists with the evidence of 'reasonable steps' a Tribunal expects.
Foundation
£70 (plus VAT)
Per person
40 minutes | No CPD
For essential-level awareness of the same topics, delivered faster. Ideal as a refresher or where time or budget is limited.
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What does the Comprehensive Programme cover?
Six modules, 120 minutes, tailored throughout for employees and workers.
Module 1. Introduction (6 minutes)
- Context: the culture of silence, untouchable perpetrators, fear of career damage and retaliation, low confidence in the complaints process.
- Correcting myths on how the Equality Act and the Protection from Harassment Act apply.
- The Harman Review and the Bar Council, BSB and judicial response: changing the culture of the Bar.
- Flexible learning and module timings.
Module 2. Regulatory Reporting & Safeguards (18 minutes)
- The Commissioner for Conduct, role explained.
- Talk to Spot: engaging the Commissioner, with a demonstration.
- Talk to Spot's four-step process.
- Useful to know: how the Commissioner decides whether a barrister or pupil's behaviour could meet the serious misconduct threshold and require referral to the BSB.
- Why you have no personal duty to report to the BSB, and how Talk to Spot still supports you.
- Who acts on any report and how your chambers/employer procedure runs alongside it.
- What else your Spot record can do.
- Recent regulatory changes employees and workers should know about including the new definition of bullying.
- Bar Council helpline and support services, open to all Bar personnel, not only regulated members.
- The Institute of Barristers' Clerks Employee Assistance Programme.
- A brief 'useful to know' outline of the BSB Core Duties and Conduct Rules that govern the barristers and pupils around you.
- The BSB direct reporting portal, with a demonstration.
- The Victim Support helpline shown.
- The informal reporting pathway to the Commissioner for Conduct or a senior member of the Bar and the formal JCIO portal, for concerns about judicial behaviour.
- Learning summary and quiz.
Module 3. Behavioural Standards (10 minutes)
- Contractual obligations: employment contract, statement of terms, staff handbook.
- Standards of behaviour, expressed and implied.
- Below-threshold behaviour: Bar Council Toolkit examples.
- Workplace behaviour, equality and inclusion policies, and other policy areas: social media, IT, confidentiality, GDPR, intimate relationships.
- What behaviour you can expect from others.
- The Core Duties and Conduct Rules that apply to the barristers and pupils you work with - on bullying and harassment.
- Learning summary and quiz.
Module 4. Anti-Bullying Training (25 minutes)
- The definitions of bullying.
- Where and when bullying happens at the Bar.
- How bullying happens.
- Types of bullying, with Bar-specific examples for employees and workers.
- Common excuses and cultural defences, and how to respond to them.
- Who is responsible for eliminating bullying - employee and worker focus.
- A reminder of a barrister/pupil's Core Duties and Conduct Rule obligations re bullying.
- Handling bullying if it happens to you: what to say, internal help, evidence, support and the informal and formal reporting pathways.
- Being an active bystander, zero tolerance, and the five Ds.
- Consequences of a bullying finding, from warning to summary dismissal.
- The benefits of calling out bullying.
- Learning summary and quiz.
Module 5. Unlawful Harassment (28 minutes)
- How unlawful harassment related to a protected characteristic fits into discrimination.
- The definition you need to know.
- The seven protected characteristics.
- What counts as unwanted conduct.
- What "related to" means.
- Looking at purpose and effect.
- Bar-specific visual examples of each protected characteristic.
- Victimisation explained.
- The detriments you might see at the Bar, tailored for employees and workers.
- Employee and worker visual examples of unlawful harassment, victimisation and detriments.
- Handling unlawful harassment if it happens to you.
- Judicial harassment: informal and formal pathways.
- Third-party harassment: Bar Council Toolkit guidance, how to handle it, what to say, support, evidence and all pathways.
- Being an active bystander, a reminder.
- The consequence for an employee or worker alleged or found to have unlawfully harassed someone.
- Learning summary and quiz.
Module 6. Sexual Harassment (25 minutes)
- How sexual harassment fits into discrimination.
- What sexual harassment is.
- What "less favourable treatment" means.
- Less favourable treatment must relate to gender reassignment or sex, but conduct of a sexual nature (sexual harassment) does not have to relate to any protected characteristic.
- Unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, with examples.
- Victimisation, a reminder, and the employee and worker detriments you might see at the Bar.
- Employee and worker visual examples of sexual harassment, less favourable treatment, victimisation and detriments.
- Handling sexual harassment if it happens to you.
- Third-party harassment: how to handle it.
- Being an active bystander, a reminder.
- The consequence of an allegation or finding of sexual harassment.
- Criminal harassment in the workplace, related to sex amounting to a hate crime.
- Learning summary and quiz.
What does the Foundation Programme cover?
Foundation covers the same topics as Comprehensive in less depth across 40 minutes of learning (plus some quiz time).
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Bar context and the Harman Review: the culture the review identified and how the Bar Council, BSB and judiciary have responded for the benefit of everyone who works in and around the Bar, so not just for barristers.
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Regulatory safeguards and reporting routes: the Commissioner for Conduct and Talk to Spot, the reporting routes and support open to staff, why employees and workers have no personal duty to report to the BSB but may still make reports, and how, including about the behaviour of judges. Includes general reference to the BSB rules that govern barristers and pupils so these are understood.
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Behavioural standards and policies: contractual sources such as the employment contract, statement of terms and staff handbook, and named workplace policies that set out what's expected of employees and workers.
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The law in essence: clear definitions of bullying, unlawful harassment and sexual harassment, the core legal tests simplified where possible,, Bar-specific examples, third-party harassment and how hate crime law now applies to sex-based hostility.
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Practical skills: being an active bystander and the five Ds.
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Consequences: what a finding of bullying or harassment can mean.
How the training works.
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Self-paced online video.
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Interactive knowledge checks and quizzes.
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A personal login to a secure platform.
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A dashboard showing progress and completion.
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Start, pause and resume at any time.
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A time-stamped completion certificate.
Built by experts in bullying and harassment.
Julia Gidney, Founder, Wdidi
Founder Julia Gidney is a former leading employment law partner at top UK firms and Group Head of People and Compliance for major international organisations, with more than 30 years front-line experience. Julia leads all Wdidi content and brings in recognised Bar experts to validate it.
Common questions.
Why do staff need training separate from barristers?
Employees and workers sit within their own legal and contractual framework: the Equality Act's protections against discrimination and harassment, the Worker Protection Act's duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and the further changes to that duty and to third-party harassment liability introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025. Staff are also bound by, and protected by their own internal policies and procedures — such as grievance and disciplinary procedures and the policies usually included in a staff handbook, rather than the chambers constitution, tenancy or pupillage agreements that apply to barristers and pupils (who are instead regulated directly by the BSB, with different professional consequences for misconduct findings). This programme is built around the staff framework specifically, with staff-focused examples throughout, rather than adapting content written for a different regulatory audience.
What does "all reasonable steps" mean under the Worker Protection Act?
Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From 30 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 raises this to "all reasonable steps," and introduces a separate duty making employers liable for harassment by third parties, across any protected characteristic. EHRC guidance points to risk assessments, up-to-date policies and role-specific training as the evidence expected.
Which programme should we choose to help meet that standard — Comprehensive or Foundation?
Training alone can't discharge this duty, but it's a critical, evidenced part of meeting it and both of our programmes are built to support it, at different levels. Comprehensive covers the contractual, policy and behavioural content in full depth across six modules, giving learners the deeper, evidenced record that Employment Tribunals are expected to scrutinise as the standard rises. Foundation covers the same core legal content at an essentials-level speed, so is a faster way to put reasonable-steps evidence in place or to refresh previous training without the full 112-minute commitment. Most chambers intend to use Comprehensive as their primary record and Foundation as a lighter refresher between full cycles.
Is the training kept up to date as the rules change?
Yes. The platform supports real-time content updates. When the regulatory or legal framework changes — including the Worker Protection Act or other post-Harman Review implementation measures designed to address bullying and harassment for those who work in and around the Bar, the training is updated quickly, without waiting for a scheduled refresh.
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