Employment Rights Act 2025 trade union law changes: Your questions answered

by Nick Chronias, Partner at DAC Beachcroft LLP

The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains many reforms to trade union-related workplace legislation. Employment lawyer and trade union relations specialist Nick Chronias recently presented a Brightmine webinar on the subject. Here he answers some of the questions he didn’t have time to address during the session.

Initial changes to trade union laws were implemented at Royal Assent in December 2025, then in February and April of this year. On 1 October 2026, a further wave of Employment Rights Act 2025 union legislation reforms will come into force, including:

• A requirement for employers to provide workers with a written statement that they have the right to join a trade union and explain what unions do; and
• The introduction of a right of union access to the workplace (both physical and virtual), to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, and to facilitate collective bargaining

Final Regulations confirming the details of these measures are still awaited.

1. How should we inform new employees of their right to join a trade union – will this go into their contracts or statements of employment particulars? And what’s the best way to tell existing staff?

A: That’s still not entirely clear, as we are awaiting the Government’s response to its consultation on this point. However, as things stand, we think it should go into a separate document sent out to new recruits at the same time as employment particulars. When it comes to existing staff, it depends on how you communicate with them. You could put this information on an accessible intranet page, into a social media post accessible to all colleagues, on physical noticeboards or a combination of these.

2. Do we now have to recognise a trade union even if we never have before? What if we already have an employee forum or staff council?

A: No, you do not. You can only be required to recognise a union if it is successful in a statutory recognition ballot. However, having an employee forum or staff council does not prevent a union from applying for recognition.

3. If we do not currently recognise a trade union, do we have to research which ones are available and pick one to tell the employees about? Or do they have to have options?

A: No, you do not have to research and recognise one. You can continue with existing employee engagement arrangements, set up an employee forum, voluntarily recognise a union or see if you receive a request for statutory recognition from a union.

4. Can union access be restricted to outside working hours — for example, outside the school day?

A: This is contentious and not entirely clear from the draft access code. The Government starts by stating access should usually be during normal working hours. It then states consideration should be given to holding events during rest periods or towards the end of shifts. So, you can negotiate for access to happen during rest periods but expect trade unions to push for it to be during working hours. If this can’t be agreed, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) decides the issue and will be swayed by when the employer typically holds meetings with its workforce and the degree of business disruption caused by access at a particular time.

5. What are the risks if we get things wrong? For example, what penalties or legal consequences could we face for non-compliance or missteps under these new laws?

A: The consequences of non-compliance with the access laws are heavy fines: up to £75,000 for the first breach, up to £150,000 for the second, and up to £500,000 for the third and any subsequent breaches.

6. If a retail store has fewer than 20 employees, but the business as a whole has more than that, would access be refused for the individual store?

A: No, it’s the number of workers in the business as a whole that counts, not those in an individual store.

7. Is it right that a business with fewer than 20 employees will not be required to allow trade union access under these reforms?

A: Yes.

8. What will unions actually request under the new access rights — for example, onsite meetings, digital communications, how often (eg. weekly?) — and what do we need to provide or avoid?

A: That is up to the union, and we expect requests to vary depending on the workforce – for example, we expect digital access to be key where a workforce largely works remotely. So, a request could be a mixture of digital and onsite and with varying regularity depending on the union’s resources. You can seek to negotiate access arrangements with the union that take account of your operational and client needs, but the Government has not allowed for them to be used as reasons to refuse access.

9. If we already have a recognised trade union, do we have to provide access to other (non-recognised) trade unions under the new regulations?

A: Almost certainly not. Recognition of one union is a reason why the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) may refuse an access request.

10. We have a strong colleague forum (staff council). How will the encouragement of trade union recognition work with these groups?

A: They can run alongside each other. Remember recognition is not a requirement unless a union is successful in a statutory ballot. If it is, you can still engage with the forum and trade union on the same issues, but you will have to consult with the union for the bargaining group it is recognised for on TUPE transfers and collective redundancies.

11. In February 2026, the notice of industrial action that unions must provide to employers was reduced from 14 days to 10 days (initially seven days was proposed). Is the notice of industrial action 10 working days or 10 calendar days under the new law?

A: Ten calendar days.

12. Is it right that unions can join together to achieve the recognition threshold?

A: Yes, two unions can make a joint statutory recognition request, and their joint membership will be counted in deciding if they meet the 10% membership threshold.