The unions are coming – new rights for independent trade unions
Throughout my career, employer clients have asked why I bother to mention that employees have the right to be accompanied by a trade union official. Few employees outside the public sector belong to a union, and fewer employers still recognise one. Indeed, many employment lawyers (myself included) have rarely had to advise on trade union relations. I suspect that is about to change.
From 30 October 2026, independent trade unions have a new statutory right to request access to workplaces, both in person and digitally. They can use it to meet, support, represent, recruit and organise workers, and to facilitate collective bargaining. Crucially, this can apply even where the employer does not recognise a union and none of the workers are members.
The regime generally excludes employers with fewer than 21 workers, but that threshold is not assessed site by site. Workers employed by associated employers also count. A small branch of a much larger organisation will not necessarily escape.
The Department for Business and Trade’s Code of Practice, which also came into force on 30 October, explains how the regime works and is well worth a read (along with the Guide).
In broad terms, once a union makes an access request, the employer has 15 working days to respond. If it does not simply accept the request, there is then a 25-working-day negotiation period. If agreement still cannot be reached, either party can refer the matter to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which will decide whether access should be granted and on what terms.
So what might access look like in practice? The union must give at least five working days’ notice before its first visit, and access agreements will ordinarily last no longer than two years, although the parties can jointly apply to the CAC to extend them. Beyond that, the Code’s model terms envisage weekly access, unless the union wants it less often, with two working days’ notice for later visits.
Unions do not get an automatic right to workers’ personal contact details. However, employers may be required to help union communications reach staff through existing channels such as email, the intranet or a messaging system. Perhaps more significantly, employers should expect access to take place during normal working hours, with workers paid for time spent at agreed union meetings.
The enforcement regime also has real bite. Repeated breaches following an upheld complaint can ultimately result in substantial CAC penalties, rising from a maximum of £75,000 for a first penalty to £500,000 for a third or subsequent penalty.
Separately, employers must now tell workers about their right to join a trade union. Given the more headline-grabbing changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025, I can understand why all of this has gone under the radar. Taken together, the access regime and the new duty to tell workers about union membership give unions a real foothold in workplaces where they have never had one. I expect union membership to grow as a result.
Access is not, of itself, the same as recognition. It may, however, give unions a greater opportunity to recruit and organise workers and, in time, seek voluntary or statutory recognition. The Code itself acknowledges that recognition may be a union’s longer-term goal. For employers with little or no experience of collective employee relations, that could ultimately mean negotiating collective agreements and consulting with unions on restructurings, TUPE transfers and the like.
What should employers do now?
- Choose one person to receive and handle access requests, and make sure managers at every site know to pass any request to them straight away. The 15-working-day clock starts when the request is given, not when it finally lands on the right desk.
- Plan how you would accommodate access, both in person and digitally, including which systems and spaces could be used.
- Think beyond the immediate access request. Consider how union access fits into your wider employee relations strategy and how you would respond if greater union activity ultimately led to a request for recognition.
Only time will tell how far unions will use these new rights, but I think it is time for employment lawyers and HR professionals alike to start swotting up on all things trade union. I certainly am!
