The Employment Rights Act 2025 (the Act) received Royal Assent in December 2025. The Act contains significant provisions regarding trade unions and industrial relations. The Government factsheet says: “The Government believes strong collective bargaining rights and institutions are key to tackling problems of insecurity, inequality, discrimination, enforcement and low pay. We want to foster a new partnership of cooperation between trade unions, employers and the Government. This will help unions achieve positive outcomes for workers and support employers to amicably resolve disputes with their workforce.”
One of the ways in which the Government is seeking to achieve this is to provide unions with a new right to access employer workplaces. The Act sets out an outline of a process whereby an independent trade union can make a request for access to an employer’s workplace and workforce. As with most of the Act, further regulations are needed to expand on the detail of the provisions and bring them into force.
What does the Act broadly provide for?
Currently, there is no independent right for trade unions to gain access to workers in their workplace, other than through existing members in the workplace or via arrangements agreed voluntarily with the employer. This will change under the Act, where it will be possible for trade union officials to apply for access to a workplace to:
- meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers (whether or not they are members of a trade union), or
- facilitate collective bargaining.
This does not, however, cover access for the purposes of organising industrial action.
Access to workers can be via entry to the physical premises, as well as communications by other means, for example, electronically.
Only trade union officials who are members of a trade union which has a certificate of independence can apply for access.
The new provisions will provide a right for an independent trade union to submit a request to the employer for access to workers. The employer will then have a set timeframe in which to either accept or reject the request. If the request is rejected, there will be a negotiating period. If agreement cannot be reached, then the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) can be asked to determine whether access should be granted and, if so, on what terms.
When is this due to come into force?
The Government’s implementation roadmap states that this is due to come into force in October 2026. We will need commencement regulations to do so, which will also set out the detail of the provisions, including the process and the CAC’s enforcement powers.
Are there any details of what the process looks like?
As mentioned, we need further regulations to confirm the finer details, including the process.
The Government issued a consultation paper in October 2025 on this proposal. The consultation period closed on 18 December 2025 and the Government issued their response on 8 April 2026. The response sets out what the Government is proposing to put in place regarding certain matters, including producing a draft Code of Practice (the draft Code), which will “support the new legal framework for trade unions and employers when negotiating trade unions’ access into workplaces”. There is a consultation on the contents of the draft Code, which closes on 20 May 2026.
While we need regulations to finalise the detail, these documents give a clearer idea of what may be contained within those. The main points to note currently:
Who can apply for access?
- Any trade union that has a certificate of independence will be entitled to apply for access.
- The CAC will refuse requests if an employer has fewer than 21 workers in total.
- Unions will not be able to access private dwellings, although hybrid workplaces that are a combination of residential and working environments may be in scope.
- If an access arrangement is already in place, then the advice is to stick with that - there is no need to go through this formal process.
The initial request
The request must be made in writing to the employer.
There will be minimum information requirements for a valid request, with the draft Code setting these out, as well as providing a template request form.
The response
The employer will have 15 working days in which to respond to the request. Again, prescribed information must be provided, with a draft template response form provided in the draft Code.
If an agreement between the union and the employer is reached, then they must both notify the CAC. If an agreement is not reached, or the employer fails to respond, then the parties will enter into a negotiating period.
Negotiating period
The negotiating period will run for 25 working days following the conclusion of the response period. Both parties should approach negotiations in good faith. The draft Code states: “This means that both parties should be considerate and mindful of the other party’s perspectives and work together to find pragmatic practical solutions to any potential issues that may arise. They may find it helpful to work from a single document that acts as a draft access agreement, making alterations to it as negotiations progress.”
A template from of Access Agreement Notification Template is contained within the draft Code.
If agreement is reached, both parties must notify the CAC. If agreement is not reached, then either party can apply to the CAC to determine whether access should be granted and, if so, on what terms.
Application to CAC for access
Any application to the CAC must be made within 15 working days of the end of the negotiating period (which can be extended in some circumstances). When deciding, the CAC must take into account the “access principles”, which are:
- officials of a qualifying trade union should be able to physically enter a workplace or communicate with workers (or both) for any of the access purposes in any manner that does not unreasonably interfere with the employer’s business;
- an employer should take reasonable steps to facilitate access by officials of a qualifying trade union;
- physical entry into a workplace should not be refused solely on the basis that the employer allows the union to communicate with workers by other means (e.g. email);
- communication with workers by means other than physical entry into a workplace should not be refused solely on the basis that the employer allows the union to have physical entry into a workplace;
- access should be refused entirely only where it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so.
The draft Code goes on to say: “These principles reflect the Government’s intention that trade unions should have access to workers, but that this access should not unreasonably interfere with the employer’s business and that employers should not have to take unreasonable steps to facilitate access.”
Model terms
The draft Code highlights that where a union’s request is for access on “model terms”, they are more likely to be accepted and granted. These “model terms” include:
- Access of a frequency of up to weekly.
- The employer making available existing accommodation and facilities, as is reasonable in the circumstances, in order to facilitate access for the union in line with the terms of the access agreement.
- The employer must also ensure that, as far as reasonably possible, they ensure that direct communications between its workers and a trade union subject to the access agreement are private.
- The trade union must provide a minimum of five working days’ notice of an access visit (physical or digital) on the first occasion the union request access. For all subsequent accesses, a minimum of 2 working days’ notice will be required.
- The trade union official seeking access to the workplace must comply with all reasonable instructions given by the employer. This may include completing relevant health and safety inductions, providing relevant identification, or signing in at the front desk.
Practicalities of access
The draft Code provides lots of information about how an access agreement/arrangement might work in practice. This includes:
- Where access can take place
- What happens if a meeting room is not available
- When access can take place
- Privacy of meetings
- Considering non-typical working patterns
- Provision for “digital” access
It also highlights the potential for third parties to get drawn into the matter, where it is that the employer does not have direct control of the premises where the employee works, indicating that the employer’s obligations will be to seek to obtain the approval of the owner of the premises to the union having access on any part of the site which is owned or managed or controlled by the employer.
The draft Code also suggests that, given the longer-term goal of a union may be to seek recognition, all parties should also familiarise themselves with the relevant processes relating to that.
Enforcement
If the parties end up in a dispute regarding the access agreement, they can apply to the CAC to decide whether the dispute is valid or not. This application must be made within three months of the matter complained of.
In the first instance, the CAC can either:
- alter the agreement, or
- declare that the complaint is well founded and issue an order requiring specified steps to be taken in order to ensure the access agreement is complied with.
If there is a repeat of the conduct within 12 months following the declaration or a breach of a CAC order, a further application can be made to the CAC, who can then issue a fine as a penalty. The proposed fines are:
- Maximum of £75,000 for a first penalty order.
- For a second penalty order, arising from repeated non-compliance under the same access agreement, the maximum penalty is £150,000.
- Any third or subsequent penalty order issued under the same access agreement shall be subject to a £500,000 maximum. This larger penalty can be issued repeatedly without requiring parties to go through the full enforcement process again, where non-compliance continues.
- Where an access agreement covers multiple workplaces, breaches will be treated cumulatively. This means that the maximum value of £500,000 can be issued, even if the first two penalties occurred in relation to breaches at different workplaces, so long as they are covered by the same access agreement.
Next steps
The consultation regarding the draft Code closes on 20 May 2026.
As mentioned above, we need further regulations to confirm the finer detail of the process that will be put in place.
These regulations will also confirm when this new right will come into force. The implementation roadmap suggests October 2026. The Government, so far, have stuck with their timetable, and given the consultations will have closed in good time before October 2026, there is good reason to believe it will come in at that time.
Preparation
While we are still waiting for confirmation of what the final process will be, we now have more detail about what the Government are proposing. Employers can and should, therefore, start to prepare for this.
- This change will come into force at some point, likely October 2026. All employers with 21 or more workers, therefore, need to start preparing for it.
- The proposed timeframes are tight. Employers should ensure they have in place clear processes to be able to comply with them. A failure to comply could result in the CAC granting access on the terms requested by the union.
- Note that the “access principles” which the CAC must have in mind when considering applications are heavily swayed towards granting access. This is particularly so when “model terms” are being proposed. This is another reason why employers should start to think about how access could be granted in a way that is least disruptive to them.
- The draft Code advises that if informal access arrangements are in place and working, there is no need for the parties to go through this formal process. The benefit of keeping it outside of the statutory process is that the CAC will not have oversight of those arrangements and, therefore, cannot get involved in enforcement. Of course, if things turn sour, then either party could initiate this formal process.
- While having a recognised union already on site is a relevant factor for the CAC when considering access applications, it may not be determinative. Therefore, unionised employers should still consider how they will deal with such requests, including how such requests might impact on ongoing union relations.
- As the draft Code suggests, a long-term aim of a union seeking access might be to obtain formal recognition at some point. Employers who do not already recognise a union should, therefore, consider how likely this may be for them. For example, larger employers, or those with higher profile, may be at higher risk.
- Employers should look to improve, where applicable and possible, employee relations. This might include, for example, addressing historic and ongoing issues, and providing employees with a forum by which they can voice views about the workplace environment and culture clashes. The potential benefits are that employees who feel heard and happy may not feel the need for union assistance, and if recognition is at some point agreed or obtained, will reduce the risk of industrial action being taken. Also, a happy workforce is much more likely to be productive.
- Given the large financial penalties that could be awarded for failure to comply with access agreements, it will be beneficial for employers to try and agree to access terms that work for them as far as possible, rather than leaving it to the CAC to determine what access arrangements the employer will have to follow.
Therefore, employers should start to think about how access could be granted so that any negotiations with an approaching union can be started quickly and, hopefully, maintain goodwill during that process.