The UK Employment Rights Act: trade unions and industrial relations

The Employment Rights Act (“Act”) received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and the government plans a staged implementation over 2026 and 2027.

The Act includes 28 employment reforms and, cumulatively, the scale, breadth and complexity of the changes are significant for employers (read our tracker to keep abreast of developments across the Act and timescales for implementation).

To support employers as they respond to the Act’s diverse measures, our more detailed briefings focus on specific topics within the Act and include the latest developments and practical implications. In this briefing, we review provisions which have important repercussions for collective employment law, including trade union and employer rights and duties, affecting both unionised and non-unionised employers. 

For our briefings focusing on the Act’s changes to:

• dismissal and re-engagement (“fire and rehire”), read our update
• family-friendly rights and SSP, read our update
• collective redundancies, read our update
• enforcement, read our update
• zero and low hours contract workers, read our update
• unfair dismissal, read our update
• equality and harassment, read our update

Industrial action

In relation to industrial action (IA), the Act:

• repeals the 2023 minimum service levels (MSL) legislation
• repeals the 50% turnout threshold and 40% support in important public services requirement in ballots. It has reverted to simple majority voting. However, two different commencement dates apply. The 40% support requirement in important public services has been repealed for ballots opening on or after 18 February 2026 whereas the 50% threshold will be removed after electronic balloting is made available to trade unions (a date has not been confirmed). The government has committed to making e-balloting an option from August 2026
• repeals the 2016 picketing supervision provisions
• reduces the information a union must include on the ballot notice and sample voting paper
• reduces the information provided by the union to members with the ballot result. Separately to the Act, the government has recommended the use of email, over first class post, to inform employers and members of the ballot outcome (the Code of Practice has been updated)
• reduces advance notice of industrial action from 14 to 10 days. The information contained in the notice also reduces
• extends the expiry of the ballot mandate for industrial action from six to 12 months
• introduces protection against detriment for taking part in industrial action and strengthens the rules on automatic unfair dismissals for protected industrial action (employees are no longer only protected during a 12 week protected period) 

Practical implications

Right of access

A new legal procedure provides for independent unions to request workplace access (which includes physical access and/or the ability to communicate with workers) and negotiate workplace access agreements with employers, with the process enforced by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). The government is excluding employers with fewer than 21 workers from this new right which it intends to implement in October 2026.
 
Whilst referring to it as including a “digital right of access” in its consultation response, the government has stated that communication is by any means (subject to data protection legislation). The purpose of access is defined: to allow union officials to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers or to facilitate collective bargaining (not for organising industrial action). There will be a “fast track” route in certain circumstances, reflecting government concerns over the potential length of the application process. The scope and details of access are contained in a draft Code of Practice and in regulations (to be published).
 
The new Code of Practice on Trade Union Right of Access encourages parties to use standard request and response templates as part of the access process. Model access agreement terms, which are expected to establish baseline principles, include two working days’ notice before each access visit, after the first one, and ongoing weekly access. However, parties can agree different periods. Employers should be aware of the timescales involved, including 15 working days for the employer to respond to the union’s request for access (which parties can agree to extend) and 25 days to negotiate the terms of an agreement. The Code also sets out some factors for the CAC to consider where there are competing union requests for access. In the event of employer non-compliance on more than one occasion, a financial penalty may be ordered by the CAC with an initial maximum £75,000 fine and up to £500,000 for repeated breaches.

Practical implications

Changes to statutory recognition

The Act makes many procedural and substantive to the legal procedure which applies when a union seeks statutory recognition. For example, they include:

• deleting an initial admissibility test which a union had to meet (the requirement for evidence that the majority of workers in the bargaining unit would be likely to support the union conducting collective bargaining on their behalf) – in force April 2026
• providing for regulations to relax the remaining admissibility test by dropping the current requirement that the union has at least 10% membership in the proposed bargaining unit to a lower percentage of 2% - 10% (exact figure to be decided). Until regulations make this change, the 10% test remains – in force April 2026
• removing the condition, when workers vote in a recognition ballot, that recognition must be supported by at least 40% of all the workers in the bargaining unit, such that a union needs to secure a simple majority of those voting to obtain recognition – in force April 2026
• amending the access and unfair practice rules
• assessing the number of workers in a bargaining unit at the point at which the CAC receives the application
• recognising a non-independent union may no longer “block” an application for recognition from a union that has a certificate of independence – timescales/conditions apply – in force April 2026

Transitional arrangements apply to the above April 2026 changes. The government is also committed to introducing electronic balloting for statutory recognition ballots in 2027. A revised Code of Practice on access and unfair practices during the recognition and derecognition processes will apply - it is being extended to include unfair practices in electronic ballots.

Practical implications

The changes make it easier, quicker and cheaper for trade unions to apply for recognition and to win a recognition ballot.

Changes to individual rights and protections

Changes will be introduced to the existing rights for an official of a recognised trade union to take paid time off during their working hours to carry out trade union duties and for a union learning representative to take paid time off. These include requiring an employer, upon request, to provide access to such accommodation and other facilities (e.g. office/internet, etc) as is reasonable having regard to the Acas code. As a result, it becomes a right to time off and facilities. A new right for trade union equality representatives to paid time off and facilities is also being introduced. Another change shifts the burden of proof to the employer, in the event that an employee claims a breach of the right to time off. It will be for the employer to show that the time off which the employee proposed was not reasonable. These measures are planned to take effect in October 2026.

Protection against blacklisting, where information is compiled on individuals concerning their trade union membership and activities with a view to that information being used by employers or employment agencies to discriminate against them, will be strengthened (implementation is expected in 2027).

The Act also introduces a new duty on employers to inform new workers of their right to join a trade union at the same time as they provide a written statement of employment particulars, and to inform all workers of this right on a regular basis. A consultation sets out further details, including the form and frequency. For example, its preference is for employers to provide a government-provided standard statement, adding any workplace specific details, at the start of employment and annually for existing workers (where it is provided directly, as opposed to indirect methods such as on a notice board or intranet). The new duty will take effect in October 2026.

Practical implications

Employers with existing time off arrangements will need to review policies, and how they are implemented locally by managers, to comply. Contracts of employment and other written particulars should be updated to incorporate the duty to inform, once the final details are confirmed.

Employment law is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the issues set out above may not all apply in NI. For NI specific advice contact our Belfast office.

Originally published: December 17, 2025