Collective Bargaining & Trade Unions

The Government wants to modernise trade union laws and strengthen collective voices at work, creating a new era of partnership between businesses and unions. It believes that the changes it proposes “will lead to increased trade union membership and, ultimately, a more level playing field for workers.”

The ERA 2025 aims to significantly strengthen the power and access of trade unions, introducing new measures and repealing some existing restrictions. Much of the detail will be subject to consultation (some of which is now underway) and further regulations.

We don’t cover all the changes, but key reforms are set out below. 

Employers will have a legal duty to give workers a written statement that informs the worker they have the right to join a trade union.

This statement should be given at the same time as they receive a section 1 statement of terms and conditions of employment, and at other prescribed times. Penalties for failure to provide a written statement will mirror the penalties for failure to provide a section 1 statement of particulars. Further details will be set out in regulations, the details of which will be informed by the outcome of the consultation launched on 23 October 2025. The consultation seeks views on different options on the form and content of the statement, the manner in which it should be delivered for new or existing workers and the frequency with which it should be reissued. It is clear that the intention is for this to be more than just a “one line” statement of a right to join a union.

This reform could (and is intended by the Government to) lead to an increase in workers’ awareness of trade unions. This may in turn result in an increase in the level of union membership (particularly when coupled with the new union access rights below).

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Timing and developments

Included in the ERA 2025. 

Regulations will be required to determine the precise details of this new duty including the form, content and manner of delivery of the statement. A consultation was launched on 23 October 2025 (which closed on 18 December 2025) which will inform the content of these regulations and how this new duty will operate in practice.

The Government’ roadmap’s updated timeline indicates that these measures will take effect in October 2026.

Independent trade unions have new broad rights to request access

The ERA 2025 introduces a significant new statutory right for trade unions to request access to workplaces. The details of how this will operate will be set out in secondary legislation following consideration of the consultation (now closed) was launched on 23 October 2025. The new right of access is summarised below:

• Right of access will be for ‘access purposes‘, namely to (1) meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers (whether or not they are members of a trade union); (2) facilitate collective bargaining (but this does not include organising industrial action).
• ‘Access‘ means (1) physical entry into a workplace (although not to any part used as a dwelling) and/or (2) communication with, including providing information to, workers by any means whether directly or indirectly (for example via digital means). This is broad and could require an employer to provide information to their workers on behalf of officials of a union within an all-staff email.
• The ERA 2025 sets out a detailed statutory process by which unions can enter into access agreements with employers for the access purposes. A trade union can make a request for access (for one or more occasions) and the employer must respond either accepting or refusing the request. If an employer refuses, there is a period of negotiation for the two parties to agree and then where agreement is not possible (or the employer doesn’t respond), either party will be able to apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (‘CAC’) for a determination as to access. How this process will operate in practice (including the timings for the various response and negotiation periods) is subject to the consultation (although a potential exemption for employers with fewer than 21 workers is one of the options proposed).

The CAC also has powers to enforce access agreements, and details will be set out in regulations. The 23 October consultation proposes that CAC fines for non-compliance could be either up to a maximum of £75,000, or alternatively a two-stage maximum with a standard cap of £75,000 and a higher maximum of £150,000 for repeated breaches, in addition to certain factors to take into account when determining quantum.

This is a significant change, which may lead to an increase in workers’ awareness of trade unions and to an increase in the level of union membership. We may also see more pro-active steps being taken by trade unions, particularly to enter sectors where they have not traditionally had a presence – which could now be done more easily through the means of new digital access request rights which could (under the consultation proposals) be extensive. Employers who may not have previously had to engage with unions may have to start doing so.

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Timing and developments

Included in the ERA 2025. 

Regulations will be required to determine the details of how this will operate in practice. A consultation launched on 23 October 2025 (which closed on 18 December 2025) will inform the content of these regulations. The Government has confirmed it will also consult on a new statutory code of practice on trade union rights of access to set out best practice and include practical guidance on how access should be carried out by both trade unions and employers.

The Government’ roadmap’s updated timeline indicates that these measures will take effect in October 2026.

Reforms to statutory recognition processes

The ERA 2025 will make changes to the statutory union recognition process – with the aim of simplification. Key changes include:

• Introducing a power for the Secretary of State to lower the threshold for the CAC to accept a trade union recognition application from 10% of the workers in a bargaining unit to between 2% and 10% – the Government has promised that this will be subject to further consultation.
• Repealing the requirement for unions to show at the outset of submitting a statutory recognition application to the CAC that a majority of workers in the bargaining unit are likely to support recognition.
• Removing the requirement for at least 40% of workers in the bargaining unit to have to vote for recognition at the ballot stage – only a simple majority of the workers voting will be required.
• Preventing recognition of a non-independent union, in response to a written request for voluntary recognition from an independent union, from blocking the independent union’s subsequent recognition application
• Strengthening the ‘unfair practices’ regime, including extending the prohibition on unfair practices so that it applies during the entire trade union recognition process from as soon as the CAC accepts the union’s application for statutory recognition and preventing recruitment into a bargaining unit during the recognition process for the purposes of dilution

The process for statutory recognition is complex, and these reforms aim to simplify some of the processes and will likely make it easier for unions to gain recognition. The changes and the process could lead to an increase in the level of union membership (particularly when coupled with the new union access rights discussed above).

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Timing and developments

Included in the ERA 2025. 

The Government on 4 February 2026 launched consultation (which closes on 1 April 2026) on the revised code of practice during recognition and derecognition processes and on proposals on unfair practices in electronic ballots.

The Government’s updated timeline indicates that measures:

• To simplify trade union recognition processes will take effect on 6 April 2026. The Government’s Business Guidance specifies this as removing the 40% threshold, removal of the likely majority test when a union submits a recognition application and preventing recognition of a non-independent union, in response to a written request for voluntary recognition from an independent union, from blocking the independent union’s subsequent recognition application; and
• In respect of unfair practices in the trade union recognition process will take effect in October 2026.

Changes to industrial action ballots and other reforms

The ERA 2025 makes several changes, including:

Repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 (this took effect on 18 December 2025).

Repealing or amending much of the Trade Union Act 2016 largely in respect of industrial action. Key reforms include:

• Removing certain restrictions to pave the way for e-balloting. A consultation was launched on 19 November 2025 on a draft code of practice on electronic and workplace balloting. A further consultation was launched on 4 February 2026, which also deals with proposed changes to unfair practices to facilitate the use of electronic balloting methods for recognition and derecognition ballots.
• Reducing and simplifying the current threshold requirements for a trade union ballot to take industrial action so it is easier to ballot. This includes removing: (1) the 50% turnout threshold required in a ballot for industrial action for all sectors; and (2) the additional 40% support threshold requirement in respect of workers engaged in important public services. The proposal to repeal the 50% turnout threshold is being delayed to align with the development of e-balloting and will require separate implementing regulations.
• Removing certain requirements regarding the provision of information to be included on ballot notices and industrial action notices.
• Reducing the notice period that a trade union must give the employer prior to industrial action from 14 to 10 days.
• Extending the time period for which an industrial action ballot has effect to from 6 to 12 months.
• Removing requirements in relation to union supervision of picketing for such industrial action to be protected. The Government published a revised draft revised code of practice on picketing on 9 January 2026 to time with this change.

This will largely impact employers whose workforce currently recognises a union. The threshold reductions and simplification of processes may make it easier to undertake industrial action.

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Timing and developments

Included in the ERA 2025. 

• The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was repealed on 18 December 2025.
• Industrial action: Changes to industrial action came into effect on 18 February 2026. There are transitional and savings provisions in place following publication of commencement provisions (see Guidance on Trade Union Law published 8 January 2026). On 9 January 2026, the Government published a revised draft revised code of practice on picketing and a revised draft code of practice on industrial action ballots and notice to employers to time with these changes.
• E-balloting: The proposal to repeal the 50% turnout threshold is being delayed to align with the development of e-balloting and will require separate implementing regulations. The Government’s updated timeline indicates that measures relating to electronic and workplace balloting for Statutory Trade Union Ballots will take effect in August 2026 and that electronic and workplace balloting for recognition and derecognition ballots will take effect in 2027.

New trade union rights and protections

The ERA 2025 introduces new rights and protections for trade union representatives and members. These include:

• Creating new rights of access to facilities and strengthening existing rights to time off for trade union representatives and trade union learning representatives, as well as new rights to paid time off and access to facilities for trade union equality representatives. A revised draft Code of Practice on time off for trade union duties and activities (currently subject to a consultation) has been published by Acas.
• Strengthening the rules on blacklisting by amending and extending the Government power to introduce regulations on blacklisting.
• Introducing enhanced protections for workers against detriment for taking protected industrial action. A consultation was launched on 26 February 2026 on what should be the prohibited detriments to be set out in regulations. The Government’s current preference is to prohibit all detriments for the sole or main purpose of penalising, preventing or deterring a worker from taking industrial action. The consultation also indicates that such detriment claims will be brought within scope of a potential ACAS uplift for failure to comply with the ACAS Code on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.
• Simplifying and strengthening unfair dismissal protection for employees who undertake protected industrial action, for example so that the protection against dismissal will apply for the length of the strike action by removing the requirement for the dismissal to be within the ‘protected period’.

Employers who are unionised will need to be informed of the new rights and protections to ensure that union representatives and members are afforded their rights properly.

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Timing and developments

Included in the ERA 2025. 

• Enhanced dismissal protections for taking industrial action – commencement regulations brought this into force on 18 February 2026 (subject to transitional and savings provisions – see guidance).
• Enhanced protections against detriment – the provisions in the ERA 2025 came into force on 18 February 2026 but will require further regulations setting out the ‘detriments of a prescribed description’. A consultation was launched on 26 February 2026 (closes 23 April 2026) to consider what detriments should be prohibited under these regulations. The Government’s updated timeline indicates that enhanced protections against detriment for taking protected industrial action will substantially come into effect in October 2026.
• Blacklisting – the ERA 2025 brings into force the regulating making power for blacklisting, but the revised Government Factsheet indicates that the Government will consult on  the regulations setting out the detail for blacklisting in Spring 2026. The Government’s updated timeline indicates that measures will come into effect in 2027.
• Access to facilities and rights for trade union equality representatives – A consultation  on a draft Acas Code of Practice on time off for trade union duties and activities was published on 20 January 2026 and will be concluding on 17 March 2026. We expect this Code to provide guidance for employers on how to interpret and comply with these new rights and protections and to encourage employers to engage in good industrial relations.  The Government’s updated timeline also indicates that the new rights and protections for trade union representatives will come into effect in October 2026.

Other changes

In addition, there are other changes under the ERA 2025 and beyond which are outside the scope of this hub. These are noted briefly below.

• The Government’ roadmap’s updated timeline still indicates that the Government plans to introduce changes to the industrial relations framework in 2027 – but details on this are awaited.
• Sector specific reforms are being introduced under the ERA 2025 including:
  • Implementing (by way of regulations) new social care negotiating bodies, including the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body for England, which will be able to consider remuneration, terms and conditions of employment of social care workers and other matters in respect of the adult social care workers.
  • Reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, to establish national terms and conditions, career progression routes, and pay rates.
• Also, previously, the Government said it wants to ensure ‘at a minimum’ that any proposals to introduce surveillance technologies in the workplace are subject to consultation and negotiation, with a view to agreement of trade unions or staff representatives. The Next Steps document has promised as part of the Government’s longer-term reform plan to consult on surveillance technologies and negotiations with trade unions and staff representatives. This is not dealt with under the ERA 2025.

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