Trade union reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025: what employers need to know

Insight

15.09.2025

Updated as of 18 December 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) contains one of the most comprehensive sets of reforms in recent years (as outlined in our overview). In this blog, we focus on the key reforms affecting trade unions, exploring how these could redefine employer relationships with unions.

Trade union recognition and industrial action

Statutory recognition

A trade union with statutory recognition has the right to collectively bargain on behalf of a defined 'bargaining unit' – a group of workers agreed between the union and an employer, or determined by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). This may include all employees of an employer, but more commonly consists of a specific category or group of workers, regardless of whether they are union members.

The ERA 2025 will introduce measures aimed at simplifying the trade union recognition process. Currently, at least 10% of workers in a proposed bargaining unit must be trade union members before a union can apply to the CAC for statutory recognition. The ERA 2025 will allow the Government to lower this threshold via regulations, to anywhere between 2% and 10%. Trade unions will also no longer be required to demonstrate that there is likely to be ‘majority support’ for trade union recognition.

When it comes to holding a ballot for recognition, currently, unions are required to win support from both (a) a majority of workers voting in the ballot; and (b) at least 40% of all workers in the bargaining unit. The ERA 2025 will remove the 40% requirement, meaning unions will only need a simple majority of votes cast to succeed, a significantly less demanding requirement.

The ERA 2025 (and updates to the relevant Code of Practice) also strengthens protections against unfair practices by employers during recognition and derecognition ballots – for example, actions that could improperly influence the outcome, such as offering financial incentives or putting undue pressure on employees to vote a certain way. Importantly, these restrictions will apply earlier in the process, from the moment the CAC accepts a union’s application for recognition.

Taken together, these reforms are expected to increase the number of recognition applications and make balloting more straightforward, which in turn are likely to make it easier for unions to gain statutory recognition. For employers without a recognised trade union, now is a good opportunity to engage constructively with existing workplace representatives or prospective unions in order to set the tone for a positive working relationship.

Industrial action

The Government has committed to a near-total repeal of the provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, both of which placed significant restrictions on the ability of trade unions to organise industrial action.

In tandem with the new provisions of the ERA 2025, there will be several key changes:

The required notice that trade unions must give to employers before taking industrial action will be reduced from 14 days to 10.
The time limit during which a successful industrial action ballot remains valid will be increased from six months (or nine months with employer agreement) to 12 months. This will give trade unions more time in which to act on a strike mandate and organise their members/increase pressure on employers.
There will be a reduction in the amount of information unions are required to include on ballot notices, ballot result notifications and notices to employers of industrial action. This includes removing the requirement to detail the number of employees in each category or workplace.

Employers should be prepared for industrial action to become less burdensome for trade unions to organise, and adjust their industrial relations strategy to account for this.

Right of access to the workplace

Trade unions will gain significantly stronger rights to access the workplace in order to carry out union activities. This will include stronger rights both to physically access the workplace, and to communicate with employees (including through digital means).

There is a new statutory process in the ERA 2025 which will structure how requests are made, which will be overseen by the CAC. The process, in broad terms, will provide that:

the union will make an ‘access request’ to the employer, setting out the proposed terms of access;
the employer will have a specific time period in which to issue a ‘response notice’, setting out whether it agrees to the request or its reasons for objecting;
the parties will have a ‘negotiation period’ in which to work out the written terms on which the union will be able to have access; and
if negotiations fail, or if the employer fails to provide its response notice in time, the union can apply to the CAC to determine the application.

If an employer fails to comply with the rules, the CAC will have the power to order employers to provide access and to impose financial penalties.

Trade unions will only be able to make access requests for specific ‘access purposes’, which are:

to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers (regardless of whether they are members of a trade union); and
to facilitate collective bargaining.

Importantly, however, organising industrial action is expressly not one of the ‘access purposes’ – this will be of some comfort to employers.

Guidance is expected from the Government on when it might be reasonable to refuse access requests. Employers should review this when it is released, and ensure policies and practices are brought in line with its recommendations.

The Government has launched a consultation on how the right of access should operate in practice. Details about what is covered in this consultation are here.

Individual rights and protections

Under the ERA 2025, employers will be required to give all workers an explicit statement of their right to join a union (a) at the same time as the usual ‘Section 1’ statement of terms; and (b) at other times which will be prescribed in secondary legislation.

The Government is holding a consultation on how the duty to provide employees with this written statement should work in practice. Details about what is covered in this consultation are here.

Workers will have increased rights to take paid time off within working hours to carry out their trade union duties, including where they are learning representatives or equality representatives for their union. There will also be increased rights for individuals to use office facilities to support their union work.

Union members will benefit from strengthened rights against discrimination for participating in union activity, including enhanced protection against:

blacklisting (where employers create or use lists to discriminate against individuals based on their involvement in trade union activities);
dismissal for having taken part in industrial action; and
detriment short of dismissal for having taken part in industrial action.

The protection from detriment short of dismissal is a new cause of action, reflecting the Supreme Court's decision in Mercer last year that existing legislation does not give sufficient protection to trade union members who take part in lawful strike action. Employers are advised to act with caution in their treatment of striking workers or those who are proposing to strike.

Broader reforms

The Act will introduce a raft of further trade union-related measures, including:

The wider use of electronic balloting will be permitted, simplifying the means by which unions can organise statutory ballots.
Trade unions will be able to automatically opt members in to contributing to their political funds.
The powers of the Certification Officer to investigate complaints and take enforcement action against trade unions will be scaled back.

Practical steps for employers

We will need to wait for statutory guidance and secondary legislation to know exactly how significant these changes will be – nevertheless, what is clear is that it will become significantly easier for trade unions to gain recognition in a workplace, organise industrial action, and engage with workers.

Employers and HR leaders may want to engage in proactive dialogue with both recognised and prospective trade unions, to lay the groundwork for a relationship which is more collaborative than confrontational.

Employers should also monitor the implementation timeline and statutory guidance closely, making sure that policies are updated as appropriate and managers are well-briefed on their obligations.

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.