The ERA era – takeaways from our trade union reforms roundtable

“The great unknown” is how one of the attendees described the ERA trade union-related changes. This might seem an odd phrase to use about legislation that is already on the statute book, but a lot of detail is still awaited in relation to the union reforms. This will be published in the form of regulations and statutory instruments as successive phases of legislation are introduced across the coming year and more.

Another reason for participants referring to the legislation’s “many imponderables” and expressing uncertainty about “what’s coming over the hill” is the difficulty of assessing how much impact the reforms will have, not least on workplaces that are not currently unionised.  

As attendees noted, the ERA envisages a thoroughgoing reset of labour relations. Some wondered, in light of the Government’s present difficulties, what the Act’s likely shelf life might be. It was noted that the current administration had reversed much of the Trade Union Act 2016, which was introduced by a previous Conservative Government. As such, some argued, it was possible that a future non-Labour Government might do something similar and repeal significant parts of the ERA. How might that affect HR’s attitude to the new legislation? Should organisations simply do the minimum or, more proactively, think of the changes as heralding a cultural shift, whatever the future might hold for some of the measures in law?

Identifying the challenges

ERA measures that drew attendees’ particular attention included:

• the simplification of the union recognition process, including by reducing the requirement from 10% membership at the application stage to a level not lower than 2%, due to take effect on 6 April 2026;
• the introduction of a right of union access to the workplace (both physical and virtual), which will be implemented on 1 October 2026; and
• the requirement for employers to provide workers with a written statement that they have the right to join a trade union, also to be introduced on 1 October 2026.

Attendees speculated about how many unions might seek recognition and workplace access under the new legislation: there are over 100 unions, and the membership requirement is not less than 2%.

It is unclear at this stage what employers’ responsibilities will be in terms of providing access. Will they be tasked with gathering groups together for union engagement, for instance, and will they need to account for third parties (cleaning contractors etc) who might use their workspace? Safeguarding and GDPR concerns were raised.

Attendees suggested that it could be very difficult for smaller companies to resource the processing of a significant uptick in the number of applications for recognition and access, and that all organisations would have to consider seriously the extra management time this was likely to require.

Strengthen employee forums

It is critical to develop a strategy to deal with this general reset in labour relationships. Attendees had various suggestions, in particular creating new or strengthening existing employee forums as a proactive and positive way of optimising employee relations.

Train and upskill managers

Attendees generally agreed that the sheer volume of ERA changes was creating a lot of pressure on HR, who would need to update policies and upskill managers to meet the new requirements when all “have day jobs too”.

One attendee said that their organisation was receiving an increasing number of grievances, many written with the assistance of AI. Moreover, it is more common for union representatives to be present at grievance hearings, putting more pressure on HR to support managers at these meetings.

The result was a growth in manager stress and the HR workload. Attendees suggested that it was important to upskill managers to give them greater confidence in dealing with unions – but that this needed to be done strategically, at the right time, since some of what managers ought to have in their heads was very specific and they couldn’t be expected to keep it top of mind all the time.

Focus on planning and communication

There is going to be a lot of information to share, both with staff and with management. Attendees said they were having to think carefully about how to reach staff who were on the road a lot or not generally seated at a computer, and about the need to set up a regular cadence of communications, perhaps via emails or posters in workspaces, in order to tell employees about their right to join a union.