[3] It was introduced as a private members' bill by Wera Hobhouse and Baroness Burt of Solihull.

The aim of the act is to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and drive a culture change.

The act was then introduced by Baroness Burt of Solihull to the House of Lords on 6 February 2023.

The act however faced significant opposition to its provisions by several Lords, which resulted in original clause 1 being removed from the bill for the act and the threshold for sexual harassment protections being lowered, both in committee.

[4] The opposition of the Lords were eventually conceded to by the government and the act's sponsors, Hobhouse and Burt, which the Commons agreed with the Lords in their amendments on 20 October 2023.