Employment Rights Bill: Workplace access measures

Overview

Many of the measures relating to trade unions in the Employment Rights Bill involve amending or repealing existing legislation. However, the Bill will also create a completely new statutory framework to enable independent trade unions to gain access to workplaces for defined purposes when a request for statutory recognition is in progress.

Much of the detail will be set out in secondary legislation, but there's sufficient information in the Bill to understand how this new regime will work in broad terms.

For more information about the Bill’s other trade union related measures see our briefing here.

Scope of access agreements

Access agreements will allow independent trade unions physical access to the workplace and allow them to communicate with workers “by any means”, both directly and indirectly.

Access agreements will not allow unions to organise industrial action. There will be some restrictions in relation to physical access for certain workplaces where these have a residential element (eg care homes) 

Statutory procedure

The union can begin the process by giving the employer a formal request for access. Regulations will stipulate exactly what information the request should contain.

The employer will then have a set period to respond, after which there will be a defined negotiation period. If the parties fail to agree, the union has the option of making an application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).

The CAC will then decide whether the union should have access, and if so on what terms. In making a decision, the CAC must have regard to the “access principles” set out in the Bill. These envisage that access will normally include both physical access to the workplace and the ability to communicate by other means, provided it doesn't “unreasonably interfere” with the employer’s business.

Enforcement

The parties can apply to the CAC if there's a breach of the access agreement. Employers can be fined for repeated non-compliance.

However, like collective agreements, access agreements will be presumed not to be legally binding and so will not normally be enforceable by other means.

Consultation

The measures in the Bill include more than 20 separate regulation making powers. The main purpose of the consultation, which launched on 23 October 2025, is to inform the way these regulations are drawn up. 

The consultation is presented as a series of provisional proposals on which views are sought. These include a possible exemption based on the size of the employer. Views are also canvassed on the frequency of access, the minimum notice period for access and the level of fines for non-compliance. 

The consultation closes on 18 December 2025 and the Government remains committed to implementing these new measures into force in October 2026. Before then the Government will be consulting on a new statutory code of practice which will include guidance for both unions and employers.

Practical implications

The procedure for securing an access agreement is reminiscent of the statutory recognition procedure for trade unions with which it is closely connected. That’s because it builds in considerable incentives throughout the process for the parties to come to a voluntary agreement without submitting to the statutory regime. Formal access to the workplace may, of course, help the union to build the case for recognition. 

These measures are therefore likely to have the greatest impact on employers that do not already recognise a trade union.