UK Government Publishes Details of Trade Union Rights of Access to Workplaces

From October 30, 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 (“ERA 2025”) will introduce a new statutory right for trade unions to access workplaces (physically or digitally) for the purposes of meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting or organising workers or to facilitate collective bargaining. This is a key element of the Government’s trade union reforms which aims to give unions the opportunity to gain access to workplaces which have previously not been unionised. This will enable them to try to build up support for an application for statutory recognition, forcing the employer to collectively bargain.

The new right is being implemented through two sets of regulations and will be supported by a statutory Code of Practice (the “Code”). The draft Code and draft regulations are currently before Parliament.  

Unions will not need any particular level of membership or support to request access to groups of workers, potentially across multiples sites. The timescales for responding to a request are short and in the absence of agreement an application can be made to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), where the default position is likely to be to allow access. Breach of a statutory access agreement can lead to financial penalties as high as £500,000 (where there are multiple breaches).

Employers should take steps in advance of October 30 to prepare for this major change in the industrial relations landscape.

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