{"id":15717,"date":"2026-02-23T16:34:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/uk\/?post_type=resources&p=15717"},"modified":"2026-03-06T16:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:39:53","slug":"employment-rights-act-2025-essentials-trade-union-reforms","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/uk\/resources\/hr-compliance\/employment-law-updates\/employment-rights-act-2025-essentials-trade-union-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Employment Rights Act 2025 essentials: Trade union reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Nick Chronias<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Government’s rationale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“In recent years, trade union legislation has presented a significant barrier to effective, positive industrial relations in the UK, and this government has committed to resetting and modernising our industrial relations framework\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We will update the legislative framework in which trade unions operate aligning it with modern work practices, removing unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity and ensuring industrial relations are underpinned by collaboration, proportionality, accountability, and a system that balances the interests of workers, businesses and the wider public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“[These reforms are to] strengthen the voice of working people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Government response to Making Work Pay: creating a modern framework for industrial relations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is changing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Notice of right to join a trade union<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Employers will have to provide workers with a written statement informing them that they have the right to join a trade union, at the same time as the\u00a0written statement of key terms and conditions of employment\u00a0that employers must provide under s.1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Employers will also have to reissue the statement at other times, which will be specified in regulations which are yet to be published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If an employer fails to provide a statement as required, a worker will be able to bring a claim in the employment tribunal and may be entitled to an award of up to two weeks’ pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implications for employers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Government’s consultation sought views on how the new duty should work in practice. It including proposals on the content and form of the statement, the manner in which it must be delivered to both existing and new workers, and how often it must be reissued. Currently, the Government is proposing that a standard statement be issued to new employees and an indirect reminder (such as notices or intranet content) be issued annually or bi-annually to existing employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade unions believe informing and reminding workers of their right to join a trade union could lead to increased worker interest in trade union membership. This, combined with the proposals to give unions a new right of access to workers and simplify the trade union recognition process, has the potential to lead to greater union presence in many workplaces and an increase in the number of employees whose terms are determined by collective bargaining. That is certainly trade unions’ and the Government’s intention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade union right of access<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Act gives unions a right of access to workplaces to allow them to meet, represent, recruit or organise workers (regardless of whether they are members of a trade union), and to facilitate collective bargaining other than in specified circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does this by establishing a process for making access agreements between employers and unions. The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) is given powers to order access based on default statutory terms where the parties fail to reach agreement and a fast-track approval process for agreements that meet certain criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access agreements will be presumed not to be legally binding, but the employer or the union will be able to complain to the CAC in the event of a breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Access” will include communication with workers by any means (effectively, covering digital as well as physical access). Digital access will have to comply with existing data protection laws so employers cannot be required to provide employees’ personal data to facilitate this digital access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consultation on this provision, which has now closed, put forward proposals on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n